Escapades in ANBU: Hard Time in Blood Prison
by nNamikaze11252
Summary: Calm, cool, collected. Naruto recited the mantra over and over again in his head. One false move and he would be trapped here forever. One doesn't take a mission inside the world's most notorious prison and expect it to be easy. Naruto-Ryuuzetsu pairing. Smarter Naruto. ANBU Naruto. (My take on the fifth Naruto Shippuden movie)
1. Chapter I

AN: I have been reading fanfiction stories for years now and I finally decided to try my hand at writing one. Constructive criticism is welcomed and when I say constructive criticism I mean pointing out plot holes, slight out of character moments or grammatical errors. I do not want rants in the comment sections or people telling me what they want. This is my story, not yours. This story is going to be AU. (It will be similar to the movie but at the same time I have twisted it to my liking). The story will be slow at first but will speed up in the later chapters.

A Little Background: Naruto is currently 20 years old. His parents died by sealing the Nine-Tailed Fox into him. His demeanor is very different then canon. He is more serious, more intelligent, and has more skills that make him more like actual ninja. Naruto is currently in ANBU, apart of team Theta, captained by Yamato. He is a sealing expert and a master of wind justu's.

I don't own Naruto.

Chapter I

A flash of lightning illuminated the current room he was standing in. The room was a modest 20' by 20' office. The office was just big enough to comfortably fit a desk, a couch, and a couple chairs. Behind the desk was a woman with her arms crossed. She had her eyes closed and was deep in thought. She took a deep breath before addressing the man in front of her.

"Toad, please remove your mask," she said in a clam even tone.

The young man she addressed followed her orders. He reached up to his face and removed the porcelain toad shaped mask. Once he removed the mask the woman could see his contorted confused expression. She took another long deep breath before starting again.

"This mission is unlike any other infiltration mission you have been on before. You will be infiltrating a place notorious for being inescapable." She finished her statement by looking hesitantly at the mission statement handed to her by her secretary.

The young man didn't even flinch at what was asked of him. He calmly looked back at his Hokage and asked one simple question, "What place am I infiltrating?"

The woman seemed to take relief from his calm demeanor. Just by reading the mission statement she felt uneasy. The mission tied her stomach into a figure eight knot. A ninja's gut is their best weapon and if she were to follow that phrase right now she would toss this statement into the trash. After realizing she had been lost in thought for the past minute she answered her subordinate, "you will be infiltrating Hozuki Blood Prison inthe Village Hidden in the Grass."

She paused before reading the rest of the text on the paper. "We have reason to believe that the warden of the prison is planning something sinister. He is trying to open a mythical object that should stay closed. The object is supposedly called the Box of Enlightenment. However, our sources can't confirm that information.Your mission, once you infiltrate the prison, will be to locate this mythical box and destroy it. If you can't destroy it, seal the box away for good."

The young man looked miffed by her last statement. How was he supposed to destroy a mythical box that he had no information on? She was certainly correct though, this was nothing like his usual infiltration missions. He was brought out of his thoughts when Tsunade started talking again.

"You will not be inside the prison alone. You will have two contacts who are inside on the same mission as you. Your first contact is a Jonin from the Hidden Cloud named Maroi.He has been under cover for close to a year now. He is the main information gatherer. If you need information on an inmate, a guard, or anyone within the prison, he is your guy. Your second contact is a woman code-named Dragon, this is the only information I have of her. She is an ANBU of the Hidden Grass and is tasked with the same mission as you. She will be on the same cart with you to the prison. If everything works out as it should you two will be in the same cell for the duration of the mission. Any questions so far?"

She looked up from the sheet of paper with a pensive stare. Her glare did not hide her worry for him though. She never wants to put her pseudo-son in any unfavorable situations but he is the best infiltration specialist available in the village at the moment. He could tell that she was lost in thought again. That glossy-eyed look has appeared many times before he went on missions that were not of the best conditions.

Deciding to break the silence Naruto asked, "How will I determine who my contacts are?"

Tsunade, now broken out of her stupor, looked down towards the paper again intensively looking for that piece of information. With the newfound information she started again, "There are two signal phrases that you have to identify your contacts. Ask the question, 'What are you in here for?' and they should respond, 'Same as you.' Then you will follow up another question by asking them if they are innocent. If they respond with, 'The only guilty man in the Hidden Grass,' then they are your contact." Tsunade responded promptly. A couple seconds after her mouth shut her mouth opened again and she continued with the briefing, "Your mission will start tomorrow morning. I will call you back into the office where Captain Yamato will escort you to the gates and onto the prison caravan heading for the prison. If you have any more questions I have a copy of the mission briefing that you may go over once our meeting is finished." The last words spoken were followed by a deep inhale of air.

Naruto looked down at his mask and then back at Tsunade. He had a very uneasy feeling about this mission. The Box of Enlightenment, the prison warden, this entire scenario was combustible and ready to burst into flames at any moment. Due to his relationship with the Hokage and his status he could worm his way out of the mission. But, where would taking the easy road get him? He had worked hard his entire life, training till his knuckles bled, feeling the ache from working his muscles to hard, being hospitalized for using every last drop of chakra in his chakra pool trying to master justu's.

Naruto's reflection was cut short when Tsunade asked a short, quick question, "Do you accept the mission?"

To tell the truth Naruto was divided. His loyalty and pride for his village was pushing him to accept the mission but his rational, thoughtful side wanted him to reject the mission. Now Naruto has matured over the years from an impulsive child to a calculative man but on certain occasions his former personality will show through. This would be one of those rare instances.

"I accept the mission." Naruto spoke the words with absolute conviction showing no sense of being bothered by the prospect of possibly being stuck inside of a prison the rest of his life.

Tsunade accepted the answer with a grain of salt. It was as though she was dreading those very words that came out of his mouth. She did her best to hide her disappointment but her attempts were futile. She spoke her next statement in a disappointed and depressed tone, "Excellent, please report here tomorrow morning at 800 hours. You are dismissed."

Naruto wanted to say something to improve her mood but he felt that anything he said would only worsen it. He responded with a curt, "Yes Hokage-sama," and disappeared in a shushin.

Right after Naruto left Tsunade's head dropped down into her folded arms on her desk. She could not believe what she had just did. She has known Naruto for years, seen how hard he has worked, and heard stories of the obstacles he has overcome as a child. She felt as though she just sentenced him to death. She could only hope that he makes it through the mission safely and he could return to the village safely. After the mission, she would owe him at least a hundred bowls of ramen. That's it, she just had to think optimistically about this entire situation.

-At Naruto's Apartment-

Naruto landed silently on the balcony of his apartment. He stood up from the crouch he landed in and made his way over to the door. When he reached the door, he looked down towards the knob and in quick succession pressed several points on the handle of the door. After a couple of seconds a large seal array flashed a bright blue before fading back into invisibility. When the seal array completed faded, Naruto grasped the handle and pulled the door open. When he was completely inside his apartment, he put one foot in front of the other and kicked off his sandals. In his tired state, he almost forgot to close the door behind him.

Training from earlier in the day combined with that tense mission briefing must have been more exhausting than he thought. After walking through his humble abode, he made it to his bedroom in the back of the apartment. His apartment wasn't anything special. It had all the essentials needed to live. His apartment had a small kitchen with all the typical appliances, a refrigerator, a stove, a microwave, a freezer, and sink. Across from the kitchen is the living room. The living room is the same 12' by 12' size as the kitchen. Except instead of appliances it is decorated with a couch, chair, a small table separating the two, and against the wall adjacent from the couch were two sliding doors leading into a small balcony. Combining the two rooms was a hallway. The hallway connected the entire apartment. One direction lead to the front door of his apartment, which he barely used. His master's tendency of entering buildings and places unconventionally must have rubbed off on him. If you were to follow the hallway in the opposite direction it would lead to the bedroom where we currently find Naruto. Lying face down in the bed in the middle of the room. Naruto had hit the mattress and passed out instantly. He didn't even change out of his ANBU gear. Next to the bed is a small closet and beside it is a bathroom.

The dark and quiet night lasted for 6 hours before the sun broke its silence. The sun shined brightly this morning. Birds chirped happily and the temperature was warming to the sound of the bird's music. All in all, nature portrayed the morning as if everything in the world was perfect. In reality nature could not have been more wrong. If nature truly reflected this very moment, then it would be pouring rain and the wind would be whipping around uncontrollably.

Naruto awoke to his loud obnoxious alarm and the tranquil scenery outside. Titling his head up from his prone position Naruto saw that the clock was flashing the number 6:58. He had a little over an hour before he would be shipped off to prison for who knows how long. Groggily getting up from his comfortable mattress, he pushed himself to the corner of the bed. It took more strength than necessary to push himself off his bed and towards the bathroom. His arms and legs were still deep in REM sleep.

Naruto quickly discarded his armor and took a look at himself in the mirror. He was a tall man standing just above 6'2, his hair was cut short with his bangs being nearly nonexistent. His eyed are a piercing sky blue, his nose is narrow and combined well with his sharp jawline when it came to impressing women. His eyed peered down to his well sculpted chest. His six-pack showed through his many permanent seals. Unlike most people, Naruto was his own storage and summoning scroll. Storage seals lined his upper torso and went down his arms. From far away it looked as though he had sleeves done at his local tattoo parlor but that isn't the case. After looking himself over in the mirror Naruto stepped into his shower, slowly turned on the warm water and wallowed in its comforting temperature. In less than an hour he would be on a cart heading to the Village Hidden in the Grass.

-At the Hokage's Office-

It was currently 7:50 and Naruto wanted to make it to the office early. The tense atmosphere combined with how late it was last night did not give Naruto a lot of time to talk with Tsunade. He could see it in her eyes that she did not want to send him on this mission. Maybe he could have a pleasant conversation with his pseudo-parent before he leaves for his mission.

Naruto entered the Hokage's through the last window on the right. When he lifted his head up to take a look at Tsunade his face contorted into a frown. Sitting in the same desk and same clothes as last night was his leader but there was something different. The difference was the amount of sake bottles littered around the desk and around the trash. Naruto could tell she had a hard night and would have an even worse morning.

Calmly Naruto stood up from his crouch and made his way over to Tsunade. After years of training with a world class spy master Naruto's footsteps became silent. So, it was no surprise that when he tapped Tsunade on the shoulder she would be surprised and punch the person who woke her from her slumber. If Naruto was any lesser of a man her would be on the receiving end of that haymaker but he had luckily substituted with one of the chairs in front of the desk milliseconds before her fist would have landed. Hearing the chair shatter and splinter into thousands of pieces seemed to wake Tsunade out of her slumber. After blinking and rubbing her eyes several times Tsunade sent a harsh glare towards her fellow blond.

"You are lucky I am feeling merciful and you have a mission today. If those two things were on any other day your fellow ANBU squad mates would be cleaning your dead disremembered carcass off my office floor." Tsunade said in an agitated tone.

Naruto's lips curled up at hearing that threat. It had been too long since he had a normal conversation with Tsunade. The past couple of months they have only talked seriously about missions, projects, and village treaties. It was nice to know that they could still held that close relationship.

Naruto chuckled on the memories before he opened his mouth and said, "I'm sorry I disturbed your slumber but I wanted to visit for a couple of minutes before the mission began."

Tsunade's mood did a complete U-turn. Her agitated face turned somber in an instant. Her sad eyes looked across the room to the young man standing in front of her. She saw how he was standing. He was standing like a proud Leaf ninja would. If he was being strong then for his sake she would try to be strong too.

Tsunade's face formed a worrisome expression when she said, "If there are any problem or should anything out of the ordinary happen I want you to use your summons to contact Jiraiya or me. I can't shake the feeling that something will happen."

Naruto smiled. Not a large smile, but a small gentile smile. Naruto opened his mouth to say something only to be cut off by an alarm clock. Naruto sweat dropped. "You set your alarm to wake you up five minutes before the meeting started?" he asked questioningly.

Tsunade only huffed at his question and responded with, "A hardworking leader needs their beauty sleep."

Naruto just chuckled at the response. It was typical for Tsunade to act this irresponsible. Though, when the time called for it she could be serious. A knock at the door interrupted Naruto's thoughts. After a quick "Enter" was screamed a little louder than necessary from Tsunade, in walked Captain Yamato.

The captain walked into the center of the room where he did the traditional bow and greeted Tsunade with a "Good Morning Hokage-sama" before turning towards Naruto and greeting him as well. Yamato looked the same as he always did with short brown hair, the Second Hokage style forehead protector and Jonin uniform.

Tsunade took several deep breaths, dreading the next words that she was about to speak. "Captain, are you ready to start your part of the mission?"

Yamato steeled his gaze and stood up straighter than he was before saying, "Yes Hokage-sama!"

Tsunade took another deep breath and said, "Yamato please guide him towards the prison transport caravan at the West entrance to the village. The cart should be waiting."

Yamato responded with a quick, "Yes Hokage-sama!" and guided Naruto towards the exit of the office. As Naruto was leaving her office he could have sworn that he heard Tsunade whisper, "Please don't die Naruto, I can't lose another."

-Until Next Time-

Thank you for reading, please review!

Constructive criticism is welcomed.


	2. Chapter II

AN: Thank you for the kind comments and words of encouragement. Without further ado here is Chapter II.

I don't own Naruto

Chapter II

Naruto's feelings were palpable the moment he entered the caravan cart jail cell. His anxiousness, nervousness, apprehensiveness seemed to linger in the air. Yamato felt his emotions flowing through the atmosphere and tried to encourage Naruto while chaining him in the cart. "Stay focused on the mission, make your moves when necessary, and be inconspicuous. You will be in and out within a month. I know it," whispered Yamato.

Naruto's mouth curved upward into a meek smile at hearing those words. Truth was, he was feeling the way he did because of his mission parameters. Sneaking into a Hidden Village, child's play, impersonating another ninja, simple, being locked in a cell in a notorious prison while finding and destroying a mysterious box was not child's play nor simple. He needed to bury those feelings though. The only thing they would do is hinder his mission. Whispering quietly so only few would hear Naruto said, "Thank you." He appreciated Yamato's words. Yamato was a very blunt person. If he saw something wrong he would point it out immediately. So, when Yamato gives out praise, he means it. If Yamato was confident he could complete this mission, then Naruto knew he could complete it.

-On the Caravan-

It has been several days since that small chat. After being chained in, Naruto had discovered and memorized the schedule of the guards. Breakfast, travel, lunch, travel, dinner, rest and repeat. It wasn't a very complex schedule to figure out. During one of the breaks though he over-heard several of the guards talking about meeting up with another caravan before completing their trip to the prison. This had to be the caravan holding his teammate for the mission.

Off in the distance Naruto could faintly see an object outlined by the horizon. Naruto noticed throughout their journey that they were usually the only one using this road. There were also no bandit ambushes on the caravan. It was a little suspicious to see so little activity on such a large road. Going by the lack of activity in the past several days Naruto assumed that the faint object was the other caravan.

Naruto was a patient person. But, at this very moment, Naruto was getting antsy. He knew the trip would be long because the guards were all civilians but he wanted nothing more than to meet up with his teammate, find this box and get back to the Leaf Village.

Naruto only had to wait another 45 minutes before the other caravan came into full view. It was almost identical to the convoy he was chained inside. Four strong steads were in front pulling the long cage structure that was sitting on a wooden platform and attached to large wooden wheels. The only difference between the two caravans was that their cage was covered with what appeared to be a weathered cloth. It must have been raining off towards the North. Naruto was hoping he could at least scout out the other members of the cart and possibly get a good read on who his ally is. It was easy to read who a ninja is by their body type and posture. Those are two things that were hard for any ninja to hide. Hopefully when they stop for their dinner break he will be able to see what is underneath the-

"Hey! Let's get moving! I want to drop off these scumbags tonight! I don't want to be caught in another rainstorm!" shouted the guard sitting in front of the other convoy.

It seemed like Naruto will be getting a glimpse of the other soon to be inmates tonight when they arrive at the prison. Tsunade said that he would be in a room with his teammate so it isn't the end of the world if he doesn't find them before he reaches the prison. Looking ahead of the convoy Naruto could see the sun setting over the ocean. It was a truly beautiful sight. The orange yellow hues glowed over the water and seemed to dye the water a yellow-orange blend. It was breathtaking. Following the wondrous setting star Naruto saw a dark speck eclipsing part of the sun. That must have been the prison. By the end of the day Naruto would be locked inside what is considered to be a fortified institution with an entrance and no exit.

-Later That Day-

The loud crash of the wooden ship hitting against a rock awoke Naruto from his slumber. He must have dosed off while looking at the sunset. Groggily he flickered his eyes to get the remaining sleep out of them. He wanted to rub them with his hands but they were chained around his back and to the cage. Finally, after vigorously fluttering his eyelids his vision seemed to clear. During his slumber his cage must have been loaded onto a ship and they must have sailed across the lake to the prison. Taking in his surroundings Naruto saw the shipmates throwing ropes over the side down to what he assumed to people waiting below to tie the ship to the dock. Around the deck other shipmates were running about lowering the sails and tying down excess gear that they would not be needing now that they were docked.

"Where the fuck is Mui?! That little shit was supposed to meet us here to help transport the prisoners?" The scream of the ship captain drew Naruto's attention away from the background. Who is this Mui? He must be fairly important to this prison if he is supposed to escort them to the prison.

One of the guards put his hand up to his mouth and whistled sharply to get the attention of the others guards. He turned to one in particular and whispered some orders into his ear. With his head eclipsed by his underling he could not read his lips. After the short lecture the underling ran back up the dock towards the prison presumably. While Naruto was watching one of the guards run away, the guard that had given the orders had made his way over to the side of the boat.

"Warden Mui will be here shortly. He had some unforeseen business that had to be dealt with immediately. I have sent one of my men to alert him of your arrival. His business should be over with by now." Despite the obvious rage of the sailor the guard remained stoic throughout the conversation.

A few minutes later a tall man that looked to be in his forties appeared walking down the dock. If his title didn't give away his importance then the way the guards acted around him did. The man called Mui was dressed in a black body suit held together by a brown belt with a silver buckle. It was covered though by his large black overcoat. Everything from his long dark locks to his opaque black cloak to his emotionless charcoal eyes was intimidating. He had the look of a man that should not be trifled with. What had Naruto gotten himself into?

"I apologize for my late arrival but an unruly inmate had to be dealt with." Mui's tone was as dark as his cloak and the way he said the phrase "dealt with" made several people shiver. Mui stuck his hand under his cloak and pulled a clipboard out from underneath it. He then continued with his monologue, "I must thank you for transporting these animals to me safely. Once I have counted all of the prisoners I will take them off your ship." After the end of his statement Mui walked over to the rope ladder on the side of the boat and started to make his way on board.

His brown combat boots smacked loudly against the floorboards of the vessel. It sounded as if Mui was going to fall through into the commons below the deck. He finally made it to the cage and started to check in each of the prisoners… "Masahiro Asaki, Kaito Fujika, Riku Kato, Haru Kobayashi…." Mui continued on down the cage checking in every prisoner and then finally, "Naruto Namikaze." Naruto peered upwards when he heard his name spoken. He looked up to meet Mui's cold condescending contemplative look. It was impossible for Naruto to even tell what Mui was thinking. His gaze gave away nothing. After what seemed like a century but was only several seconds Mui turned his gaze elsewhere and continued taking attendance.

Moments later Mui was calling the guards onto the ship and they were unlocking the cage. Walking inside the guards carried heavy metal shackles and started to cuff the prisoners together. One by one they would shackle the legs, undo the cuffs attaching the prisoner to the cage, handcuff their hands with their cuffs, and then attach their cuffs to the shackles. This entire process only took a minute or so before the prisoners were set to be moved off the vessel.

With all the prisoners cuffed together they were forced to move in symmetry, right foot together, left foot together. They moved in a single file line out of the cage. While they were moving out of the cage Mui had set up a plank of wood reaching from the portside of the ship down to the dock. Altogether the parade of prisoners trekked down the plank and onto the dock. Once every prisoner had made it to the dock the shipmates started undoing the ropes and took the plank back onto the ship. Yelling could be heard on board and the shipmates could be seen frantically running all around the ship. The ship was getting ready to leave. There goes Naruto's only known source of transportation off the island.

-On the trail to the Prison-

Naruto wished nothing more than to rip off these constraints and run. Feel the wind in his face, the momentary sense of flying from tree branch to tree branch. He could not do that though. Naruto could only look up at the trees adjacent to the path he was currently walking on. He never liked moving at a civilian's pace. Naruto liked efficiency. This hike up the mountain to the prison was anything but efficient. The entire caravan of prisoners has been walking for at least an hour now. Naruto's condescending thoughts were interrupted by a sudden exclamation from prisoner towards the front of the line, "Fuck this!"

The short and nimble man, Naruto was positive it was Haru Kobayashi, darted out of the procession line and towards the forested area on the right side of the path. Guards turned their heads and watched him run, leaves and branches were left rustling in his wake. After several seconds Mui turned towards the procession line and grew a dark smile that was only seen in the nightmares of the most scarred ninja. With that smile Mui bent his knees and got in position to jump. He left some parting words for the group of prisoners before he lept. Mui simply said, "Let this be a lesson to everyone. Nobody escapes from my prison. If you even try to escape you will face drastic consequences."

With his preamble finished Mui lept up into the treetops to chase down his prey. It would only be a minute before a sudden scream echoed throughout the forest. The scream sounded anything but pleasant. It was the scream that was saved for when one felt excruciating pain. The scream planted a seed of fear within the prisoner transport. The prisoners would not have to wait long for Mui to return either. The evil man walked through the bushes dragging his prey by the scruff of the neck. Haru looked like he was thrown on a grill and left to burn. His skin was charred pitch black. The prisoner was the equivalent of a charcoal burning in a raging inferno.

Mui cleared his throat to draw the attention away from the burnt prisoner. He then started, "This is the lesson I was talking about previously. Nobody escapes from my prison…... that is without a deathly wound. I will make little Haru an example of what happens when you defy your warden." With that said Mui grabbed the small burnt man by the neck and in one swift movement of his hand he shattered the man's windpipe. The multiple cracks made almost everyone in the procession cringe. Almost everyone. The one person who didn't cringe was Naruto. As a ninja he was acclimated to the gory actions committed by other ninjas. Despite not cringing, it added to the worrisome knot growing in his stomach. He was supposed to escape his cell, find information on a relatively unknown box and then escape from this lunatic? Naruto definitely should get a decent sized bonus for completing this mission.

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful. Mui had scared the other prisoners into being little obedient soldiers. They would not dare to rebel and face the consequences. It only took another hour before the caravan reached the top of the mountain and subsequently the prison. The prison was old and gothic looking. Like it was built in the early clan warring era's. Naruto could barely make out the old seals inscribed in the stone. He didn't have a lot of time to study the seal inscribed architecture as the procession started walking through the massive gate. The gate itself was mammoth. At least 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide. At the very top of the opening was a sturdy steel door. Not too long after entering the prison the door slammed down creating a large wall of cement dust.

The courtyard was large and vast. Long three-story stone buildings decorated the landscape. That must be where they held the prisoners. The buildings were lined up parallel to the courtyard. Eight buildings lined up on one side match the eight on the other. The group walked until they reached the middle of the courtyard. Once stopped several guards walked over to the door of the closest building and unlocked it. The guards held the doors open while the rest of the guards escorted all of the prisoners inside of the room. The room that they walked into appeared to be a processing room. There was an enclosed room with a glass window to the right side. Inside the enclosed room there were large numbers marked on the back wall. That must be where they are taking their mug shots. Over on the left side of the room were two small cells furnished with nothing more than a couple cement benches protruding from the wall.

"What's the hold up?! Everyone move inside so we can finish registration and lock you all up for good!" one of the guards screamed in the back of Naruto's ear. Naruto's ear rung from the volume of the guard's voice. He started thinking that he might have tinnitus. Everyone followed the guards command a couple seconds after the yell though.

Once inside the rest of the guard detail walked in afterwards. The same two guards that unlocked the outside door now made their way over to the cell doors and used a different key to unlock them. Naruto started to pay closer attention to these two guards now. They must be the key masters of this joint. If he wanted to sneak around freely he would have to somehow swipe the key ring from one of these two guards. With a distinct metal clink, the cell doors opened and they prisoners were all filed into one of the cells.

After everyone had made their way into the cell Mui appeared in the doorway. He cleared his throat and began, "This process will only take a couple minutes if you cooperate. If you do not cooperate I do not mind persuading you to work with us." The way Mui said 'persuade' made everyone shiver and the dark grin that accompanied the sentence just put everyone on edge. "We will take you one by one into the processing room, register you in our system, confiscate anything you have on your persons right now, and then show you to your new home for the foreseeable future." Mui ended his statement abruptly and glanced down towards the clipboard in his hand. "Masahiro Asaki, you are first!"

That's how it went for the next 30 minutes. Naruto was able to grab a spot on one of the few benches scattered across the cell. He had closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. This was just disguise though. Naruto was sensing what was going on around him throughout the cell. He wanted to try and find his ally as inconspicuously as possible. His plan changed though when another inmate claimed the empty seat to the left him on the bench.

Naruto cracked open his left eye to evaluate them. They were smaller than him in height and weight. They were fair skinned and had white-grey hair that reached their lower back. Covering most of their hair on the top of their head was a green bandana. They wore a sleeveless kimono that covered a green top that was missing the right arm sleeve. Both of the arms of the inmate were bandaged from the wrists up to the elbows. They wore plain black pants that were tucked into their ninja sandals. It was hard for Naruto to get a read on the persons gender, He was unable to tell if they were a woman or just a very feminine man. Deciding to break the silence Naruto asked, "So, what are you in here for?"

Not bothering to look over to Naruto the stranger just responded while keeping their eyes forward. "The same as you." That's it. That was the signal phrase. So was this his partner or was it just a coincidence that they responded with that phrase? Taking the initiative Naruto asked them the second key identifiable question. "Are you guilty?" The seconds before they answered felt like years to Naruto. Finally, after a couple seconds that felt like a century Naruto heard, "The only guilty man in the Hidden Grass." He had found his partner for the mission.

-Until Next Time-

Thank you for reading!

Please review. Constructive criticism is welcome.


	3. Chapter III

AN: Welcome back for the third installment of Hard Time. I had originally written the chapter and had it ready a while ago but after re-reading it while editing I really started to dislike it. As a result, I decided to scrap close to half the chapter and rewrite it. Hopefully it was worth the wait. Thank you everyone for your likes, reviews and patience. Here is Chapter III.

I don't own Naruto.

Chapter III

"Naruto Namikaze."

Naruto was given no more time to converse with his new-found partner. It was his turn to be registered.

Naruto begrudgingly sat up from his spot on the concrete bench and walked towards the open cell door. Standing at attention holding the door was one of the few guards that helped transport the prisoners from the boat to the prison. He didn't pay any mind to him and continued on his way towards the processing room across the way.

As Naruto turned his head up in the direction of the room he found Mui staring him down with a cold calculating gaze. Like he was playing chess and was trying to think of his next move. He continued gazing at Naruto as he walked from across the way and into the processing room. Within a second of entering the room he heard, "Turn around." It was said in a commanding tone that left no room for a rebuttal. Not that Naruto would anyway.

When Naruto turned around he was greeted with a plastic board being shoved into his arms and further instructions from Mui. "Stand against the back wall and keep a straight face. For the first picture face towards the camera and then face towards the right side of the room for the second. We are behind schedule so don't make me repeat myself."

The door slammed shut with a bang after Mui ended his small monologue. Naruto not wanting to enrage Mui immediately strided towards the back wall and stood patiently facing the camera on the other side of the room.

He stood there for a minute before his vision was blinded by a white light. The camera flash had caught him of guard, his vision was blurry from looking directly into the light but he instinctively turned to face the right side of the room. He didn't have to wait long for a second flash to signal the end of the photo shoot. A couple seconds after the second flash the door to the room swung open and Mui walked back into the room, his straight face betrayed no thoughts currently going through his head. Naruto was broken from his thoughts when he heard Mui say, "Stand still so we may now finish the proceedings."

Naruto stood as still as a post while Mui continued walking towards him. It grew harder for him to stand still though and Mui's facial expression changed from that of a blank canvas to the smile of a mass murderer. Mui calmly spoke, "This is always my favorite part of registration. The way the prisoners always wither around in pain just sends shivers down my spine." Naruto heard the words but he didn't want to believe them. What was Mui going to do that caused immense pain? Was he going to burn his prisoner number into his skin? Naruto's mind was too busy thinking of the different scenarios that could play out to notice Mui drop into an elongated stance with his legs spread shoulder length apart, left arm pulled in towards his body and his right arm fully extended in Naruto's direction.

When Naruto finished playing out all the different scenarios that Mui was implying he finally took notice of his stance and before he could react Mui shifted his weight from his back leg forward through his body pulling back his right arm and thrusting his left arm forward in a palm strike motion. As Mui's left palm struck Naruto in the sternum he shouted "Fire Release: Heavenly Prison Seal!" The technique name easily gave away that it as a seal of some sort but those thoughts were cut short when a blazing burning pain circulated throughout his entire body. Naruto had never quite felt pain like this before. It felt like his entire body had been thrown inside an Uchiha fire blast. It was anything but pleasant. Naruto didn't know at what point during his suffering he fell to the floor but the pain started to subside and he rolled onto his knees. Naruto breaths were deep and heavy as he came back to his senses. The excruciating pain took up all of his attention and left his mind no room to process anything else that was happening.

Naruto gazed down at himself and could see that he was covered in hot sweat and his clothes were most likely drenched from that very sweat. As Naruto kept assessing himself Mui triumphantly walked back into the processing room and stood over Naruto. Gleefully Mui stated, "That was wonderful. Not you can see why I love this part of registration. So much pain and suffering, it's truly a wonderful thing."

Despite Mui's ramblings Naruto kept looking over himself to check for any damage left from the experience. The only lasting reminder he found was a large red X-shaped seal covering his torso. The seal itself was stripped and he could clearly see space in between the individual matrices. It was definitely going to take him awhile to decipher the seal that was just put on his body.

Naruto finished assessing his body and looked up to see Mui was done rambling and was now instructing him on what his fate would be. "Now that your processing has been completed you will change into proper prison garb and be brought to your jail cell. Enjoy your stay at my prison." Mui swiftly left the registration room and his presence was replaced by the guard from earlier that held the door for him. Except this time, he was holding a bright orange jumpsuit. The guard tossed the jumpsuit in front of Naruto and commanded him to change fast. Naruto complied quickly taking off his outerwear before sliding on the cold cloth. It was anything but comfortable. It was like being wrapped in garbage bag.

The registration processes were now finished and Naruto, freshly clad in an orange garbage bag, was led out of the room. The guards started leading Naruto down the hallway towards the entrance they came in through.

On Naruto's way by the holding cell he glimpsed back at the cement bench that he shared with Ryuuzetsu. She wasn't sitting on the bench anymore and when he peered around the jail cell he found several other inmates missing. They must be using another registration room as well to speed up the process.

Naruto cleared his mind of his thoughts now and started to pay attention to his surroundings as the guards led him out of the building. Naruto would need to know the layout of the land if he were to sneak around and find this mysterious box. He didn't get a lot of time to look though as the guards led him out of the building and into the courtyard.

The guard's boots smacked against the gravel walkway grabbing the attention of all the other guards in their immediate vicinity. He noted that he would be located in the fifth building from the entrance on the east side of the complex. Just a short walk across the facility.

It took very little time to get across the courtyard and soon he was upon his new home. The building was extremely similar to the registration center. Then again, all the buildings in the complex were nearly identical. He entered his new humble abode and noticed that the building was only a shelter for jail cells. The entire building was just rows of jail cells. Spacious metal barred containers ran the length of the building. As Naruto looked up he noticed that there were three levels of cells.

Naruto and the guards continued walking down the path in-between cells until they reached a metal stairway towards the center of the building. He was escorted up three flights of stairs to the very top floor. Once they reached the top floor Naruto noticed something interesting. Most of the guards in his current detail were taking deep breaths. Like just exerting the effort to climb the stairs was too much. Interesting. If all the guards were this out of shape then his odds of escaping this hell hole just rose a few percentage points. It would also mean that sneaking around would be easier. He would be able to easily out run the guards if they caught sight of him outside of his cell.

As Naruto was pondering this development the guards escorted him back towards the entrance of the building. His cell was located in the middle of the stairs and the buildings entrance. One of the guards off to his left broke off from his guard detail and made his way towards the door. Taking out his key ring and started flipping through all of his keys. Naruto looked towards the guard to see if he could memorize what key he would need to take to escape his cell when he noticed another advantage. All of the keys on the man's ring were labeled. Each key had several kanji on it. The key the guard had settled on had the Kanji for "5" and "3" written on it. Just based on those two number Naruto assumed that this was building number 5 and that key unlocked every cell of floor 3. It seemed like things were looking up since he had his insides broiled earlier.

The guard now held the door open gesturing with his right arm for Naruto to go into the cell. Not wanting any trouble Naruto peacefully walked into the cell. After walking into his new home for the foreseeable future the guard slammed the metal door shut with more force than necessary. The guards marched away back towards the stairs leaving Naruto alone in his cell. Naruto peered around his cell and took in everything that it offered. There were stone slabs jutting out of the wall on either side of the cell supporting some padding, it would be a stretch to call it a mattress, on top of the padding was a small pillow and a paper-thin blanket. Against the back wall was where the bathroom was set up. A toilet was stationed slightly off center towards the wall to his left and directly in front of him was the sink. Glancing up Naruto saw a small shower rod positioned around the facilities with a ripped cloth to give the user some privacy.

Seeing as it was a shorter walk Naruto took the bunk to his right. The second bed in his room would be for his partner Ryuuzetsu but the last time he checked she was still being processed. Lying down Naruto instantly felt the itchy cloth blanket under him. He did his best to ignore it but after several minutes he stood up and threw the blanket off the bed. It felt as though the blanket was actually living and nipping at his exposed skin. It would be another half hour before Ryuuzetsu showed up and that half hour was filled with tossing, turning, and Naruto failing to get comfortable.

The sound of voices and boots slapping against the ground alerted Naruto that his building was receiving another prisoner. Sitting up from his position on his bed Naruto could hear the voices and steps becoming louder. Which each growing second Naruto began to believe more and more that his roommate would be joining him. She was. Stopping at the door to his cell was the same contingent of guards that escorted him here. Between all of the guards stood his gray-haired teammate. A jostling of keys and a click later the door to his cell was opened and Ryuuzetsu was let inside. Once let inside Ryuuzetsu walked over to the bunk on the opposite side of the room. She started to pull back the blanket on the bed like she was going to sleep, right as she slipped under the covers the guards had finished locking the door and made their way back towards the stairwell.

Breaking the silence Ryuuzetsu opened her eyes and mouthed, "Are they gone?" Naruto silently nodded and as if the nod was her queue she pushed the covers off her body and sat up. After sitting up, she stepped towards the bars of the cell and glanced around. Once she knew nobody was listening she crossed the length of cell and sat next to Naruto. Naruto followed her actions with eyes and tracked her till she had taken a seat next to him.

Naruto broke the short silence by asking how her registration went. Ryuuzetsu simply replied, "My insides are still on fire but I will survive." Naruto nodded in understanding before he continued, "I don't believe we ever properly introduced ourselves. My name is Naruto Namikaze, Jonin from the Village Hidden in the Leaves." Ryuuzetsu's lips perked up at hearing his explanation. They both didn't know who the other was from their briefing and the gesture spoke volumes. Ryuuzetsu turned her body a bit so she was facing Naruto more before saying, "It's nice to meet you Naruto. My name is Ryuuzetsu, I have no surname, Jonin from the Village Hidden in the Grass." Naruto was pleased. It seems like he wasn't partnered with an idiot for this mission. He has been part of many missions in the past where he was forced to deal with delinquents. Thankfully, he won't have to this time.

Naruto began speaking again but this time with a little bit more cheer in his voice, "When genin teams are formed in my village they have a tradition of asking different questions to get to know the other person better, understand them on another level. My team told each other their likes and dislikes, what kind of ninja they were and some other nonconsequential details about themselves. I believe if we do this then our teamwork will improve and the mission will go by smoother." Naruto ended his short monologue with large inhales. His nervousness over her answer spoke through his actions. He was too worried about how she would respond to his statement to remember to properly breath while talking.

Ryuuzetsu looked towards the wall her bed protruded from, like the answer was written in the stone above her sleeping arrangements. After a few seconds Ryuuzetsu chuckled before saying, "You are an interesting one, Naruto Namikaze. Not too many ninjas want to be this open with a ninja from another village. How do you know I will not just sell this information or give it to the leader of my village? Or maybe I use this opportunity to get to know you, gain your trust and then assassinate you in cold blood?" The atmosphere that was calm and cool a minute ago but now it raged like a hurricane. Ryuuzetsu knew this world like the back of her hand. Ninja's are not people you can trust and when you do honor someone with your trust it is usually after years of a faithful friendship.

Naruto's faced wavered a little at her response. It was one that was realistic and too the point. Naruto's face did regain a little cheerfulness though and he said, "I am not the average ninja. I also believe that in order to complete our mission and return home safely we will need to trust each other like comrades that have worked together for years. Even if you do not trust me, I will trust you to help me complete the mission." Ryuuzetsu wore a pensive look on her face as she absorbed all of Naruto's words. It took her a minute before she opened her mouth and then closed it again. This action repeated itself several times before she said, "You may have the ability to trust me with such valor but at this moment I cannot give you the same commitment. I think though that given time I can come to trust you and reward your blind faith in me." Naruto grinned at that. He did not need her full trust but she was willing to test the waters and that was enough for him. Just as Naruto was about to continue talking a loud clang was heard.

Naruto and Ryuuzetsu were on their feet immediately both in relaxed defensive stances. Their eyes surveyed the area, looking for the cause of the loud noise. The loud clangs continued throughout the next couple of minutes and with each passing second the volume increased. Finally, a figure approached their cell door with a set of keys. It was a guard, Naruto noticed it was a different guard then before. They must have switched shifts. Unlocking the cell door with a clang and then opening it the guard stood facing them. Then the guard all but screamed, "Move out of the cell calmly and line up next to the other prisoners! We will begin escorting you to the cafeteria for your meal once every inmate is accounted for!" Still standing in the middle of the cell Naruto and Ryuuzetsu moved towards the entrance of the cell. Once outside they noticed the long line of prisoners ready to make the pilgrimage to the cafeteria. They simply walked towards the line and stood waiting to make their way out of their cell block.

-On the way to the Cafeteria-

The procession to the cafeteria was rather boring. Nobody dared try to escape and most of the prisoners were quiet and marched. The cafeteria was only one building over from Naruto's cell block. Naruto's building was the fifth building from the entrance making the cafeteria the sixth. The building looked relatively the same on the outside but that could not be said for the interior.

The tables and seating took up three quarters of the building while a wall with a door separated the area from another room. Naruto assumed that was where the guards ate their meals. The building itself was very open. Besides the small opening in the side of the wall where the so-called chef distributes the meals the interior was lined with metal tables. The tables went from the entrance of the building all the way to the wall.

Looking around Naruto also saw that guards were lined up along the walls ready to put an end to any fight. Each guard stood about 15 feet apart and that went on from the entrance of the building down to the locked doors of the separate room. That's when Naruto noticed the entire room was made of metal. The walls were metal like the tables. It was like being in a giant metal box.

"Hey," Ryuuzetsu's voice broke Naruto's focus on the architecture, "Your observations are starting to get the attention of the guards. Let's get food and keep moving." Naruto nodded along with Ryuuzetsu's plan. It was simple and was the most logical move in his mind at the moment. They kept moving and reached the food line, they each grabbed a metal tray, and moved in sync with the line. Eventually they both had some white oatmeal looking substance on their plate and moved to find a table. Ryuuzetsu and Naruto walked together towards a table near the entrance when a voice stopped them in their tracks, "Do you guys hate how dreary it is in this place? All of this metal is too much for me." Ryuuzetsu turned her head to see who spoke while Naruto looked out the corner of his eye. The person who spoke was a dark-sinned man with brown hair. His hair was shaved on the sides while it was long on top and tied in a man bun. Going down his face Naruto saw that he had grey eyes and a thick beard. He was wearing the same orange jumpsuit as Naruto except he had left part of the zipper undone showing his upper chest. "All I am saying is that I need some green. I need to wake up and see the grass. I do not want to see metal buildings and concrete walls." Naruto was about to continue walking to get away from this madman until Ryuuzetsu sat down across from him. Naruto raised an eyebrow at this. Did she have a thing for lunatics? His thoughts ceased though when Ryuuzetsu said, "So, you are Maroi?"

-Until Next Time-

Thank you for reading, please review!

Constructive criticism is welcomed.


	4. Chapter IV

AN: Hello again all! Chapter IV has arrived. I have not gotten a lot of reviews so I am unsure of how you all perceive this story. Please leave a comment about the story, anything from a thought to your opinion so far would be much appreciated. Anyway, on to the chapter.

I do not own Naruto.

Chapter IV

"Do you have any idea how many prisoners I had to whisper that stupid phrase to? I am positive that half of this institution thinks I'm delirious." Maroi stated with distaste. "But," pointing to Ryuuzetsu with his right hand, "to be able to meet with you, pretty eyes, made it worth it." The cheshire cat smile following the sentence put Naruto on edge. It made him hesitant to occupy the seat next to Ryuuzetsu. Taking notice of the blonde's hesitancy Maroi addressed Naruto, "Come on and pop a squat blondie, I promise I only bite the cute ones." A shameless wink towards Ryuuzetsu followed Maroi's statement.

Naruto looked down at Ryuuzetsu to see that she indeed shared his uncomfortableness. Maroi just gave off this weird feeling that Naruto couldn't ignore. Pushing the feeling aside Naruto took the seat next to Ryuuzetsu. Noticing Naruto's muteness Maroi began talking again, "So blondie, are you going to say something or what?" Immediately turning away from Naruto, Maroi asked Ryuuzetsu, "Is he a mute or what?" Naruto took a calm breath before addressing Maroi's accusations. "No, I am indeed not a mute. Your audacious and brash attitude caught me off guard." In truth, Naruto should be used to someone like this. His master Jiraiya often acted like this after all.

Naruto ended his thoughts of his master before returning to thinking about is next move. They have the informant in front of them, they need to get as much information as possible now. The less they have to deal with his brazen nature the better. "Since you have been in here awhile I am going to go ahead and assume you have guard movements mapped out already?" Naruto asked Maroi quizzingly. Maroi leaned back in his seat and smiled arrogantly. "Of course, I have them mapped out but I have another way in." Maroi's arrogant smirk morphed into a serious expressionless façade. "It was originally why you were contacted for this mission. I wrote to my superiors in the Cloud that to complete this mission I would need the top seal master available. Mui has been snooping around the workshops during the recreational hours looking for everything from amateur to master level sealers." Maroi took a few seconds to regain his breath.

In those few seconds Naruto and Ryuuzetsu digested his monologue. No doubt Mui was looking for an inmate to open the Box. Their thoughts were cut off when Maroi started again. "I have already had one of my contacts selected to take part in this 'secret' project of Mui's. I lost contact with him several weeks ago though. From what I understand about the process is that when people are chosen their quarters are moved to the very last building of the facility. The eighth building on the west side is the site for this project. I was unable to gain anymore information than that. Once you are moved, you lose contact with the rest of the inmates." Maroi's grave expression never changed throughout his short speech.

Naruto carefully sorted through every detail he just heard. Naruto's mind was in fifth gear trying to work out all the different scenario's that could result from him possibly going and working on this secret project. Before he committed to this project they would need to create a form of communication, a way to meet and devise some plan that was open to improvising. In the middle of Naruto's thoughts, he heard a loud bell. Maroi read Naruto and Ryuuzetsu's confused expressions and simply stated, "That bell signifies the end of the meal time period." Nodding in understanding Naruto and Ryuuzetsu stood up to leave but before they could depart Maroi said, "Meet me at this same exact table tomorrow so we can discuss our plan of action. Until then, sleep tight blondie and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow pretty eyes." Maroi winked towards Ryuuzetsu as he trekked back in the opposite direction of Naruto and Ryuuzetsu.

-Inside Naruto's Cell-

The meeting left Naruto with a plethora of thoughts. He kept thinking about how to infiltrate Mui's project while staying in contact with his teammates. All of Naruto's ideas were incompetent in his opinion. He wanted a perfect plan. A plan where he could destroy this box and leave this hell hole.

Peering over from the opposite side of the cell they shared, Ryuuzetsu watched Naruto's facial expression merry-go-round. Naruto would think he had his plan figured out, then he would find a flaw and his face would drop immediately into a frown. She found it quite funny. Deciding to help the troubled blond she spoke up, "Would you like a little help over there?"

Naruto's body jolted and then he remembered where he was. Looking up he saw Ryuuzetsu laying on her bed across from him with a small smile decorating her face. In his opinion she was quite beautiful and she did deserve the title of pretty eyes. Her eyes were a wonderous shade of amethyst. Like his mothers. Curse Jiraiya for tainting his mind. Jiraiya, toads, that's it! That's how Naruto could overcome the communication problem. He only needed a small amount of chakra to summon messenger toads so the fire seal would not be activated, right?

Ryuuzetsu's cheeks were tinted pink when she noticed Naruto staring right at her. Her blush faded away though when she saw his face adopt a serious expression. She could tell that he made a small breakthrough in one of his ideas. She wanted to ask him about it but at the same time she did not want to derail his train of thought. Throwing caution into the wind she sat up on her mattress and asked him, "Naruto, did you figure something out?"

Naruto lifted his head up and smiled before saying, "Yes, I think I figured out a way to communicate with you if I were to work on this secret project." Ryuuzetsu expression of happiness changed to one of suspicion and she responded, "How exactly are you going to be able to communicate with me when Maroi's contact was unreachable?" She was suspicious because she had heard too many stupid ideas to put her confidence behind an idea she has not heard yet. Naruto peeked out the bars of his cell to make sure nobody was listening to their conversation. He realized they were being a little careless when they were speaking their minds freely just now. To put his anxiety at ease Naruto stood up and walked across the room towards Ryuuzetsu. He calmly took a seat next to her and started explaining his idea. "I have a summoning contract with the Toads. If I am able to use enough chakra to summon a messenger toad I will be able to communicate with you across the compound. The only question is if the fire seal will let me use enough chakra for the summoning." Ryuuzetsu nodded her head along with Naruto's words. It was a brilliant idea but the matter of fact is that Mui's seal might hinder the amount of chakra he could push through his coils and expel out of his body. Thinking on her feet Ryuuzetsu blurted out, "Take off your shirt."

Naruto froze when he heard her remark. Naruto slowly turned his head in Ryuuzetsu's direction to see a light blush on her face. Naruto's face was not any better. Ryuuzetsu could see a light blush spreading across his cheeks. Feeling the need to explain herself Ryuuzetsu said, "Take off your shirt so we can examine Mui's seal. If we can find a backdoor in the matrices then you could use your chakra freely and contact me." Naruto's mind dug itself out from the dirty ditch it was in and he complied with her request.

Pulling his shirt off his body Naruto's toned body was revealed to Ryuuzetsu. Her face darkened a few shades. She looked away to regain her bearings. Naruto was very attractive in her opinion but she had a mission to complete. Focusing on the task at hand she forced down her blush and turned back towards Naruto. She easily saw the red seal showcased across his tanned skin. Ryuuzetsu had a little knowledge on sealing. Enough to understand how to make and decipher several amateur level seals, like a container seal used on sealing scrolls. Studying each rectangular mark Ryuuzetsu failed to even comprehend what matrices were woven into other matrices. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Naruto move his arm and his hand in her direction. Watching his hand now she saw him move it till in what next to the mark she was studying.

Pointing at the edge of the mark Naruto said, "The edge of this matrix here on the outside is a containment seal, similar to that of a sealing scroll. But, it is a little more complex because the style used in this seal is meant to hold something stronger than an ordinary item. If I were to take a guess, I would say that Mui has stored some of his own chakra in the seal." Ryuuzetsu looked up at Naruto in astonishment. He just looked at this seal for less than a minute and he figured it out already? He was deserving of his seal master status. Continuing from where he left off Naruto said, "It is interwoven to a second seal on an inner layer. This second seal here," pointing to an inner portion of the rectangle, "is a chakra binding seal. This is the part of the seal that disables the user's chakra. It will be tricky to release because the base of this entire seal is a fire seal. This fire seal in the middle," Naruto now pointed to the small red kanji in the middle of the rectangle, "is triggered by the chakra binding seal. If I do not disable the binding seal correctly I could possibly destroy the connection between the two seals. Thus, the fire seal would not be limited to a trigger mechanism. The seal would be on constantly and I would spontaneously combust."

Ryuuzetsu's eyes were as wide as their cell block after Naruto's explanation. Removing the seal would make their mission simpler but she refused to risk Naruto's safety. His seal knowledge was detrimental to getting into Mui's project. Reconsidering the options discussed a couple of minutes ago Ryuuzetsu asked Naruto, "Have you tried molding and expelling chakra since the seal was applied?" Naruto scrunched his face in thought. He did not try to test the limits of the seal. Naruto took a few steps away from Ryuuzetsu. Now standing in the middle of the cell, Naruto did a few quick stretches.

After Naruto finished doing his stretches he formed the dog sign with his right hand. Taking a deep breath, Naruto pushed his chakra through his coils and tried to expel it through points in his body. Naruto prepared himself to feel the effects of the seal but he felt nothing. He decided to be more daring and use a little more chakra, it was a terrible idea. The seal illuminated a bright red color and then Naruto felt it. The burning sensation from registration burned anew inside Naruto. Once again, his internal body temperature was turned up tens of degrees.

Ryuuzetsu could do nothing but sit in astonishment. Naruto's face communicated nothing but pure agony and pain. So painful he could not even scream. His silent screams of pain told Ryuuzetsu everything she needed to know about their little experiment. You could use the most miniscule amount of chakra, but anything more than that guarantees an agonizing experience. For close to a minute the seal radiated and made Naruto feel like his body was spontaneously combusting. When the minute finally ended and the seal faded Ryuuzetsu approached Naruto. Kneeling down she placed her hand close to his neck and felt for a pulse. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Bump. His pulse was faint but Ryuuzetsu could confirm her partner was still living.

Ryuuzetsu took a deep breath before she tried to lift Naruto. If she could use chakra to enhance her strength lifting a larger man would be no problem. But, after Naruto's last display she did not want to join him in the realm of unconsciousness. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself before she tried to move the heavier man in front of her. Getting down on one knee she pulled Naruto so he was sitting upright. With Naruto now in an upright position she hooked her arms around his body. It looked like Ryuuzetsu was hugging Naruto from behind. With her arms locked in place she dragged Naruto's body to his side of the cell. It took her thirty seconds but Ryuuzetsu made it to where she was now perpendicular to his bed. Taking another deep breath Ryuuzetsu squatted down and did her best to lift Naruto onto the mattress. She partially succeeded. Naruto's entire upper body was now resting on the bed. With the hard part out of the way Ryuuzetsu easily moved his legs to be level with the rest of his body.

Walking back to her bunk, Ryuuzetsu laid down and relaxed for the first time all day. This was just the first day off her mission. If all of the days were going to be this crazy she dreaded she would see the mission to its completion.

-The Next Morning-

The feeling of soreness is what Naruto woke up to the next morning. His entire body felt like it had been used as a target for jutsu practice. Groaning he turned over to get off his back and when he did he was met with the feeling of weightlessness. Naruto was momentarily stunned before his face was properly introduced to the concrete floor. The loud noise of Naruto hitting the floor permeated the walls of the facility. "What a great way to start my morning," Naruto thought.

Ryuuzetsu shot out of bed, startled by the noise. Already in a taijutsu stance, peering around looking for any hostiles. As she was peering around she saw her roommate facedown, groaning into the concrete floor of their cell. At least he was alive. His wellbeing was up in the air though.

Groggily spouting nonsense into the concrete Naruto pushed himself into a sitting position. Looking over to his cell mate Naruto noticed her stance. He chuckled before commenting, "Are you planning on taking out all zero hostiles in the room?" Ryuuzetsu was brought out of her thoughts by Naruto's playful jab. Responding in kind Ryuuzetsu said, "At least I am ready to take out the hostiles. How to you expect to take out another ninja while you are sitting on the ground?" Naruto just waved off her response with a smile.

Naruto slowly stood up before continuing their conversation. "I think we made a break through last night and I wanted to try something before we are called for breakfast." Looking over at Naruto questioningly she made a look that beckoned him to continue. "I think I have solved our communication problem. When I was funneling miniscule amounts of chakra last night I was using the same amount as I normally would to summon one of my messenger toads. If I can replicate that amount of chakra like I know I can, we will be able to communicate." Ryuuzetsu sat back down on the edge of her bunk. She brought her hand up to her face and wore a thoughtful expression. She broke her expression several seconds later and said, "That is great. We will need to test it out later tonight when everyone is none the wiser." Naruto nodded as she was expressing her thoughts and concerns.

Naruto opened his mouth to respond but he was interrupted by a guard's yell, "Get up you maggots! Its time for breakfast!" Immediately after the guard's yell permeated their jail cell Naruto said, "We can meet with Maroi at breakfast. He said he knew a way for me to get inside the workshop. We can further discuss our plan of action when we receive more details as well." Ryuuzetsu agreed with Naruto and she stood up from her position on her bed. They were both ready to meet with Maroi and get this mission moving.

-In the Cafeteria-

Walking along the wall with their metal trays Naruto and Ryuuzetsu waited in line for their meal. While they were waiting they both inconspicuously looked over to the table they met Maroi at yesterday to see that he was in the same seat as the other day. Shuffling along Naruto and Ryuuzetsu received their questionable food and made their way towards their contact. Sitting down they were greeted with Maroi saying, "Good morning pretty eyes. I assume you slept well?" Ryuuzetsu just returned his charmed talk with a deadpan stare. Deciding to just play along she said, "Yes, I slept fine." Both Naruto and Maroi could clearly hear the distaste she responded with. Although, Maroi just ignored her tone and shamefully exclaimed, "If you ever want a better night of sleep you know whose cell to come to." Maroi ended his statement with a wink and a cheshire grin.

Naruto pushed their exchange aside and asked Maroi, "How can I get to this seal workshop to infiltrate Maroi's project?" Maroi leaned back and digested Naruto's words. Leaning forward Maroi said, "Ok. During free time there are different workshops inmates can attend. They can also go out into the yard and do whatever the hell they want but that is not your concern. One of the buildings by the free time courtyard holds all of the workshops. The courtyard trail will lead you to the most southern building in the back of the facility. The workshop building is across from the building that houses Mui's secret project." Naruto nodded along as Maroi divulged what information he knew about the workshops.

Naruto gave a pensive look towards Maroi and asked, "Are you completely, one-hundred percent sure?" Maroi just returned Naruto's pensive stare with one of his own and said, "Absolutely blondie." Naruto's stern expression relaxed and he turned to face Ryuuzetsu. "I have an idea. This afternoon I will head towards the workshop building. I will do some reconnaissance of the seal workshop. I will try to get a better understanding of how the workshop functions. While I am doing reconnaissance in the workshop you can do some reconnaissance of the building Mui is keeping his secret project in. What do you think?" Naruto said calmly.

Ryuuzetsu considered agreeing with Naruto's plan of action. It was fairly straightforward and not very risky. Deciding to voice one of her own ideas she suggested, "Would you rather have us both attend the workshop? I know it will be important to have information about the target but I think it would be better to have two sets of eyes inside than one." Naruto contemplated the two options laid out in front of him. Ryuuzetsu seemed agreeable and would let him make the final choice. He just had to make the right choice. After internally deliberating for close to twenty seconds Naruto said, "Alright, I think your idea is the right course of action to take." Ryuuzetsu grinned. She was happy her idea was chosen. She knew that if one person were to miss a small detail the other person would be able to pick it up. It only seemed right in her mind.

Naruto opened his mouth to say something else but he was interrupted by a loud bell. Breakfast was over, it was time for their plan to come into fruition.

-Until Next Time-

Please leave a comment or thought on how you think the story is going so far. It would be much appreciated.

Also, I have put a poll up on my profile. Should a romantic relationship develop between Ryuuzetsu and Naruto? Please vote and let me know what you think.

Thank you for reading!


	5. Chapter V

AN: Hello once again! I have not received a lot of votes in the poll on whether or not a romantic relationship between Naruto and Ryuuzetsu should develop. Please go to my profile and vote. Also, I have not received a lot of reviews for the story. Let me know what you think of the story so far. Other than that, on to Chapter V.

I do not own Naruto.

Chapter V

The crackling of the gravel under Naruto's feet was the only sound that permeated the silence between Naruto and Ryuuzetsu. They had just left breakfast and were on the main trail that ran down the middle of the institution. They were just a couple of buildings away from the recreation building. Inside the recreational building is the seal workshop and subsequently where Mui is recruiting sealers for his secret project. Approaching the building, Naruto noticed that the building looked like an exact copy of the 15 other structures in the compound.

Naruto was brought out of his musings by Ryuuzetsu's voice, "How would you like to scout out the area? Each of us take one side and work our way around?" Naruto processed Ryuuzetsu's suggestions before answering, "I agree, I think it would be best if we each took a side. This way when we are across the floor from each other we will be able to not only communicate with each other but also let the other know if we see anything suspicious." Ryuuzetsu nodded her head along to Naruto's words. She readily accepted his proposal as they were now standing in front of the large recreation center.

Walking through the doors, Naruto and Ryuuzetsu observed all of the amenities of the first floor. The left side of the floor was lined with bookshelves. Rows upon rows of books filled the entire left side of the room. Turning their heads towards the opposite side of the room they could see tables and chairs spread amongst the room. Several inmates were seated in the chairs and were reading books presumably taken from the abundance made available on the other side of the room. Calmly walking through the floor as to not disturb anyone Naruto spotted a staircase in the very back right corner of the floor. Ryuuzetsu carefully emulated Naruto, walking swiftly behind him, not drawing anyone's attention.

Passing through the opening and into the stairway Naruto and Ryuuzetsu noticed a commotion towards the second level. Immediately, Naruto and Ryuuzetsu jumped against the wall. Hoping they were not noticed by the two fighting parties, Naruto and Ryuuzetsu slowly peered upwards to catch a glimpse of the commotion. On the level above them Naruto saw an inmate pounding another into the ground. The winning inmate was at least six and half feet tall. He was not only tall but he was exceptionally muscular. It looked like he could bench the Nine-Tailed Fox. His long dark hair hid his features as he stood over the other inmate that could only be described as small civilian. Naruto and Ryuuzetsu could barely see his white hair as he was curled up in a fetal position on the metal landing.

A grizzled voice caught Naruto's attention. The larger man was saying something to the smaller man. Naruto turned back to Ryuuzetsu and made a "stay here" motion with his hands as he stealthily moved up the stairs. Keeping his body flush against the wall, Naruto hoped they wouldn't notice his presence. "…cigarettes. You said the fucking shipment would be here yesterday. I don't see any god damn sticks, Genji. You ripped off the wrong bastard. Free period tomorrow, during the riot, the walls will be stained with your blood." With his monologue finished the larger man proceeded to spit on the smaller man now identified as Genji.

The bulkier man waded towards the current stairs occupied by Naruto and Ryuuzetsu. Not wanting to be seen, Naruto slowly backtracked down the stairs until he was back on the first level with Ryuuzetsu. Without hesitation Naruto grabbed Ryuuzetsu's hand and pulled her around the corner of the doorway to the stairwell. Standing off to the side of the entrance, the pair hoped the large man would not notice them. Several seconds later the muscular man traveled out of the opening, across the library, and out of the door. He gave no sign that he ever saw Naruto or Ryuuzetsu.

Naruto let out a breath he did not know he was holding and titled his head to the side to see a slightly blushing Ryuuzetsu. It was only then Naruto noticed that in his rush to not be seen he had grabbed her hand and pulled her to the point where their bodies were almost touching. Producing a blush of his own Naruto quickly apologized and took a swift step back.

After a couple of awkward silent seconds Ryuuzetsu asked, "Were you able to find out what the fight was about?" Shaking off his embarrassment, Naruto responded, "It was a fight over a broken deal. The smaller man, Genji, ripped off the wrong person. There was another interesting part of the conversation though. The larger man mentioned a riot happening tomorrow. Did you know that a riot was happening tomorrow?" Ryuuzetsu adopted a quizzical expression after Naruto's last remark. They have only been in the prison two days. It would make sense that nobody would tell the newbie about a possible break out plan. "No, but we could use this to our advantage. This riot could give us an opportunity to do operations that would not normally be possible with normal security," said Ryuuzetsu.

Naruto started to consider all of the possible actions that they could take during the riot before he stopped himself. He was currently in the middle of a reconnaissance mission. The riot plan could be discussed tonight. Speaking his thoughts Naruto said, "We can discuss the riot plan tonight after lights out. At the moment though I think we need to focus on finishing our reconnaissance." Ryuuzetsu nodded her head and readily agreed with what Naruto was saying. Tomorrow's course of action could be discussed tonight.

-On the Second Floor-

Walking through the doorway of the second floor Naruto and Ryuuzetsu could tell this was the workshop area for not only sealers but for metalsmiths and wood workers as well. The left side of the room was full of desks and tables. Each table had a different saw with a different blade. The desks that fit in next to the tables were being used by other inmates to work on their creations. Turning their heads towards the middle of the room Naruto and Ryuuzetsu saw what had to be the seal work area. Like the wood working area there were tables and desks fitted together. Instead of fixed saws sitting on the tables there were sheets of paper and bottles of ink with brushes inside. Peering farther to the right they saw the metal smiting area but that area was of little interest to them. They just came for the sealing workshop.

A voice broke the two-roommate's concentration and they both looked to see two guards walking towards them. "Since you two look new here I will give you the quick low down on how this area operates. The room is available only during recreation hours, you may not bring anything out of said room, and if the guards think you are doing anything suspicious you will be banned from said room. Is that all understood?" the guard finished his statement with a firm glare. The glare did not intimidate Naruto or Ryuuzetsu but they swiftly responded, "Yes sir." The last thing they needed to do right now was to draw the ire of one of the guards.

Doing as they discussed previously Naruto and Ryuuzetsu each separated and walked towards opposite sides of the room. Ryuuzetsu made her way towards the wood working are while Naruto walked into the center of the sealing area. Naruto observed the heavy wooden tables, dried brushes and ink. Wait. Dried brushes and ink? How long has this area gone without use? Looking closer at the tables Naruto could vaguely make out a layer of dust. Taking his hand Naruto swiped two of his fingers across the desk. Bringing his hand into a prone position he noted the layer of dust stuck to his fingers. Naruto glanced over to the left side of the room to see Ryuuzetsu inspecting the metalsmithing equipment. Returning his focus to the adjacent area, Naruto heard a faint voice. Following the soft noise Naruto found himself walking towards a cracked door in the corner of the room. The door was labeled as a custodian's closet and it was hidden behind several support posts. Giving in to his curiosity Naruto peeked through the crack in the closet door.

On the other side of the door was anything but a custodian's closet. It was a long hallway with pipes of multiple sizes lining the walls. It was dark and gloomy, like the set of a horror movie. Sliding the door open several more inches Naruto slid his body around the door and into the new space. Now that he was on the other side of the door the voices in the distance increased by several decibels. Despite the increase in volume he couldn't understand the transpiring conversation.

Carefully, Naruto crept his way down the hallway. Naruto thought he could hear his feet patting against the concrete floor but one look to his right revealed the source of the noise as a leaky pipe. He continued down the hallway for close to a minute before the hallway opened up into an actual custodian's room. Support beams were scattered around and stacked on racks against the wall was different custodial equipment. Just before Naruto peered around the corner a voice froze him in his tracks, "Do you understand what I am asking on you," said a cold depraving voice. That voice could only belong to one person, Mui. Who could he possibly be talking to in this setting? It only added coal to the inferno of questions burning inside Naruto's head. "Yes, I understand Warden. It the coming days I shall recruit the most adequate group of inmates I can find in the prison for a special project," the inmate seemed to speak robotically in response to Mui. Most likely repeating whatever Mui had said previously to him. "Good, I will return in a week to this very spot, hopefully by then you will have found a couple competent people." With those final words Mui departed from his spot and walked by towards the hallway. The very hallway Naruto was eavesdropping from.

Naruto was panicking. He needed to find a place to hide, fast. If he tried to retrace his steps down the hallway and out the door Mui would hear him. If he tried to move out from behind the wall and slide behind a post Mui would see him.

Frantically, his eyes danced across the room looking for any cover what so ever. Then his eyes landed on the ceiling. Like the walls it was lined with pipes but there was a small opening between two of the pipes. Just large enough to fit a body. Crouching down Naruto then exploded upwards, jumping and contorting his body to fit in the opening. As Naruto was about to grasp the pipe he sent minimal amounts of chakra to his hands and legs so he could land as silently as possible. Hopefully, the chakra amount would stay minimal enough to not trigger the seal. Right as Naruto landed, he looked down through the small opening to see Mui walk by. Mui walked by without noticing anything ominous and he continued to walk all the way out the door. Naruto observed him leave and he dropped down from his perched position within the pipes.

Peeking back around the corner Naruto saw the inmate making his way towards the hallway. Molding a miniscule amount of chakra again, Naruto changed his appearance. He changed his skin to be a pale white. Going along with whitening his skin he made his hair jet black and change his eyes to be a jade green. Feeling the jutsu take effect Naruto walked out from behind the wall and made his appearance known to the other inmate.

The inmate wore a shocked expression and initially took a step back. The expression soon fled his face and was replaced with a look of confusion. "Who the fuck are you?" questioned the prisoner.

Now that Naruto was standing in front of him he could get a good look at to who he was talking to. The inmate was shorter than Naruto by a full foot. His brown corn rows interweaved over his brown skin. His face was angular and his bright blue eyes contrasted with his dark skin tone. He was built like a pure speed demon. He was skinnier than the average person but despite his lack of large muscles Naruto could see tell that was a false assumption. He was toned and dangerous.

"I'm Hiro and I want to know what your deal is with Mui? If it is good, I want in." Naruto egotistically told the prisoner with a straight face. After hearing Naruto's words, the inmate just laughed. "Haha yeah, I'm sure you do. You can fuck off Hiro." With that statement the darker skinned man started walking around Naruto. Naruto wasn't going to let him leave without answers. Getting aggressive, Naruto shoved the inmate back into his original position. It was not a powerful push but enough to get his point across. Naruto was not going to let him leave without answers.

The inmate stared back at Naruto. The piercing glare he was sending Naruto's way would have killed a lesser man. "You really don't want to do this shithead." The threat was full of anger. The angry expression on the face of the prisoner only added to his threat. Naruto absorbed his glare and just stood his ground in front of the man.

Naruto was not going to leave without the answers he wanted. In the blink of an eye the prisoner shifted his feet into a wide stance, in one fluid motion he twisted his body back and threw a roundhouse kick with his left leg at Naruto's head. Without skipping a beat, Naruto dropped into a crouch under the kick and went straight for his exposed side. Showing his immense strength, Naruto threw an undercut right into his kidney. The loud grunt expelled from the prisoner told Naruto he struck gold. Quickly, Naruto followed up his body shot with a snap kick to the inside of the inmates planted right leg. The kick strained the ligaments and tendons holding the joint together, his knee was nearly destroyed. The impact caused the inmate collapsed in excruciating pain. So much pain the he could not even scream, only clench his knee and fall to the ground.

Standing over the inmate after the quick exchange, Naruto peered down on his prey and said, "I believe I deserve some answers." The calm tone Naruto used seemed to frighten the downed inmate. Through a strained stern expression, the prisoner looked Naruto back in the eye and proclaimed, "I'm not telling you shit." As the inmate finished his statement his mouth was introduced to Naruto dominant right hand. The right cross from Naruto sent the prisoner sprawling across the concrete floor. When the prisoner garnered the energy to push himself off the ground Naruto marched across the room and launched a left legged kick into the rib cage of the prisoner, robbing him of all the air he just had in his lungs. The force of the kick made the inmate roll back into the nearest post. Looking dazed and confused, Naruto stationed himself in front of the man.

When it looked like the man was returning to reality, Naruto said, "I can do this all day, I'm leaving it up to you though on how you want to leave this room. Do you want to walk out under your own power or be carried out in a body bag?"

The man's eyes rose up to meet Naruto's predatory orbs and he simply said, "Walk out, you win Hiro. What do you want to know?" Naruto's lips curled into a smile before he said, "I want to know everything Mui said to you." The man tried to push himself up into a more comfortable position but could not do it without wincing. Now recalling the past conversation, the inmate said, "Mui wanted me to meet with some of the dealers and kingpins in the prison. He wanted me to find anyone with large chakra reserves or sealing knowledge or both. They would meet me back here in this room in one week's time. He never gave me a reason as to why but he promised me that my parole officer would be more lenient in my upcoming hearing." The inmate gasped for air as he finished his statement. The kick from earlier still fresh, making breathing difficult. While the inmate was gasping for air Naruto started formulating a quick plan. It could easily backfire but he needed to take this chance and get in on this. This could very well be the project Maroi was mentioning.

"I think I could help you with your mission." Naruto's statement caused a confused expression to grow on the face of the inmate. Answering the unasked question, Naruto replied, "If you got a softer parole hearing then maybe if you could squeeze me in this program I would also get a softer sentence." The inmate looked up to Naruto and sassily said, "Oh yeah? Who said I would include you in on this?" Looking down upon the man, Naruto smoothly said, "I know of a man that fits both of those qualities that Mui is looking for. One of the freshman that just came of the boat is an Uzumaki. I can get close to the Uzumaki in my cell block. I can get you the ultimate weapon for this." As the inmate heard Naruto talk a grin slowly grew larger and larger in his face. "That's an interesting proposition Hiro. If I can meet this Uzumaki for myself then consider it a deal. It won't be hard to bring in a straggler if I can get an Uzumaki." Naruto just nodded his head along to the other man's words before he asked, "Where do you want to meet this Uzumaki?" The inmate brought his right hand up and cupped his chin in thought. Several seconds later he said, "Tell the Uzumaki to meet me in this room tomorrow during free period. Lead him here. I will return to this room and be waiting." Naruto nodded before walking back towards the entrance. Looking back, Naruto nodded in acknowledgement of the other inmate and made his way back down the long hallway.

Peeking back through the opening of the door, Naruto saw that the coast was clear. Sliding the door open a few more inches he slid his body through the opening. Arriving on the other side Naruto started looking around for any signs of Ryuuzetsu. But, the only thing that he saw was an empty room. Naruto's observations were interrupted when two arms suddenly shot out from behind his back….

-Until Next Time-

Please review and tell me your opinion on the chapter. Also, if you have not already, vote in the poll on my page. Let me know if you think Ryuuzetsu and Naruto should be a couple.

Thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter VI

AN: Thank you to everyone who has followed and favorited! The poll remains open for those of you who have yet to vote on whether or not they want Naruto and Ryuuzetsu to be a pairing. The poll will be closing a week after this chapter is posted. Now, on to Chapter VI.

I do not own Naruto.

Chapter VI

Two arms firmly gripped Naruto. Before Naruto could relent the arms threw Naruto against the nearby wall. With the assailant in plain sight Naruto could see that it was…. Ryuuzetsu? Tapping her foot impatiently with a stern look on her face Ryuuzetsu stared up at Naruto. He could clearly see from the look on her face that she was not pleased. About what though? His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Ryuuzetsu say, "Do you remember what the plan was before the mission?"

Naruto just returned Ryuuzetsu's question with a quizzical expression. He was completing the mission. They were to do reconnaissance of the area thought to be Mui's recruiting ground. It even proved fruit when Naruto was able to grant himself a meeting with one of Mui's recruiters. Ryuuzetsu gave an exaggerated sigh and walked towards the doorway of the stairs. Naruto immediately followed her, nearly walking on her heels. When they reached the hallway, Naruto stepped in front of Ryuuzetsu, successfully cutting her off.

Naruto's face held a serious expression but his eyes emitted a soft visage. "What do I do wrong?" Naruto questioned softly. They were not surrounded by the concrete walls of their cell. They could not afford to communicate loudly.

Ryuuzetsu raised her eyebrow when his question reached her ears. "Do you not remember the small briefing we had before entering the building?" Ryuuzetsu reciprocated his questioning tone. "Do you not remember our plan of attack when we entered the recreation center?" Ryuuzetsu questioning tone became sterner with every word spoken.

Upon seeing Naruto retain his serious facial expression Ryuuzetsu finally exclaimed her point, "We were supposed to stay within each other's line of sight!" Ryuuzetsu was seething at this point. "You disappeared into the custodian's closet and were gone for close to twenty minutes. I had no idea what had befallen upon you. I didn't know if you discovered something, were in a fight, or even worse, uncovered by Mui."

Naruto felt like the weight of the prison was sitting on his shoulders right now. He had left Ryuuzetsu out to dry in the middle of an operation. In the field that could easily mean death. Naruto had made a rookie mistake. He had gotten ahead of himself when he discovered a lead. He wanted to chalk this up as a result of him working alone for so long. Naruto knew though, he was an experienced ninja. He should not be committing errors like this.

Naruto opened his mouth to respond to Ryuuzetsu's words but he was cut off. "I don't want to hear anything from you right now. We are going to walk back to the cell in silence and maybe, just maybe, we can discuss what you discovered later." At the end of her statement she walked around Naruto and down the staircase. She never looked back as she walked down and out of the stairwell.

-Later that Night-

It was late, an hour past lights out. Most of the guards had left and only a few had stayed to patrol the building. Naruto was on the verge of falling asleep when he felt a soft cushion like object hit him in the face. Opening his eyes, the first thing Naruto saw was a pillow laying on the concrete floor of the cell. Looking across his cell he saw the form of Ryuuzetsu, calmly sitting on her cot. The silence was broken when Ryuuzetsu said, "What did you discover in the closet?"

Naruto pushed the blanket off his body and sat up on the edge of his bed. Reaching down Naruto grasped the pillow on the ground of the cell. He leaned back upwards after reaching the pillow and peered across towards Ryuuzetsu's side of the room. Noticing the absence of Ryuuzetsu's pillow Naruto could easily infer that Ryuuzetsu had thrown her pillow at him to awake him from his slumber. Slowly standing up Naruto trekked the length of the cell until he was seated adjacent to Ryuuzetsu.

"I think you dropped something," Naruto said cheekily to Ryuuzetsu who did not seem amused by his little ploy.

"I will ask you again, what did you discover in the janitor's closet?" Ryuuzetsu's severe tone left no room for a witty response.

"I came across a meeting between a prisoner and Mui. From what information I was able to gain from the prisoner, Mui has asked a prisoner to recruit sealers and inmates with high chakra levels." Naruto paused to take a breath, but before he could continue Ryuuzetsu started talking, "And he just readily gave you this information?" Ryuuzetsu's skeptical tone matched her doubtful expression.

"No, I had to persuade him with my right fist and convince him with my left." Naruto's somewhat vague message got the point through to Ryuuzetsu. He had tortured the man.

"Was that all the information you could attain?" Ryuuzetsu's expression seemed to shift to one of interest. She wasn't as mad as she was prior in the day. She had somewhat returned to her normal self.

"I was also able to set up a meeting between myself and the recruiter. I molded just enough chakra to disguise my appearance. I was able to fool the recruiter into thinking that I was someone else." Naruto paused in his story to observe Ryuuzetsu's reaction. She moved her right hand up to her chin and a thoughtful expression was painted on her face.

"If you are able to disguise yourself, do you think you would be able to change the appearance of an object, say a pillow?" Naruto's mind started working in overdrive to try and comprehend Ryuuzetsu's idea. Theoretically, it was possible. If he can disguise himself he, he should be able to disguise a small inanimate chakraless object.

Deciding to speak his mind, Naruto said, "I believe I can? Why?" Naruto did not have to wait two seconds before Ryuuzetsu started to describe her idea, "If you can disguise your pillow to be my sleeping figure then I will be able to explore the prison one night and look for the mystical box. We suspect the room where I would need to go. I would just need to find a way in." Naruto looked up at the ceiling of their cell like there was an answer written on it. The idea was good at face value. There were so many unknown variables though. What would she find in that part of the building? How heavily guarded is it? Were there traps laid? Too many questions with few answers pivoted the idea from good to bad instantly.

"I don't think that would be a good idea. There are too many unknown variables. We have no intel on the area you are trying to infiltrate. Assuming I am holding the disguise, you will have no backup should you get in an unfavorable situation." Naruto's worries didn't seem to shake Ryuuzetsu.

Ryuuzetsu just brushed off his statement. "I have been in situations similar to this. I can handle it. You don't need to worry." Naruto wanted to scream at her for saying that. To assume a mission would go similarly to another was idiocy. That is how ninjas die. They assume. False assumptions are what put a ninja in a deadly situation.

Ignoring Naruto's disapproval Ryuuzetsu said, "We should start the operation tomorrow night. The sooner we locate this box, the sooner we can complete the mission, the sooner we can escape." Ryuuzetsu stare tore into Naruto. Her look challenged him to disagree with her.

"Would you be willing to wait an extra day for your operation?" Naruto asked sincerely, hoping to get her to change her mind.

Ryuuzetsu thought he was challenging her resolve. He was not in charge of this mission. They were partners and she was not going to back down. "Pray tell why I should wait an extra day to infiltrate the room of our objective?" Naruto could tell she was not pleased with his question. It seemed to piss her off.

"Before we went off on a tangent with your cushion disguise idea there was something that I was never able to mention." Ryuuzetsu's demeanor changed from her angry visage to that of eyebrow raised questioning look. "When I conversed with the recruiter I was able to set up a meeting between myself and the recruiter. I will be meeting with him tomorrow. Hopefully, I can get myself recruited and placed on the inside, working for Mui on this project."

Ryuuzetsu nodded along with Naruto's words and then replied, "If that is true then I do believe you are right. Your meeting should come first before I try and infiltrate the room."

Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief. He really did not want to be fighting with his teammate for the rest of the mission. Fighting only made decision making and agreeing more difficult. Naruto was brought out of his thoughts when Ryuuzetsu said, "Now, since all that is settled, get off my bed. I want to get some sleep."

Naruto decided to have some fun. She was just mad at him, hopefully pushing her buttons would not make her angry again. "Really now? Are you sure this wasn't some late not plot to get in the same bed as me?" Naruto slowly scooted himself along the mattress, slowly getting closer to her.

Ryuuzetsu's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. So, he wanted to play a game. She was going to show him just how good of a player she was. "Wow, it looks like you figured me out, Na-ru-to." Ryuuzetsu copied Naruto's movement to the point where she was almost flush against him, Naruto could feel her breath against his neck. "The question now is, what are you going to do about it?" Naruto shivered after every consonant and vowel reached his ear drums. Naruto now knew that she recognized what he was doing and played him like an instrument.

Naruto had one last card to play though, he would not be outdone. Turning his body so he was facing Ryuuzetsu, Naruto placed both of his hands beneath Ryuuzetsu's legs and picked her up. He lifted her up and placed her down right on his lap. Their faces were millimeters from each other. Tense silence echoed throughout their cell. Naruto and Ryuuzetsu tilted their heads in unison and then, they met in the middle. Or so Ryuuzetsu thought. Immediately pulling back Ryuuzetsu saw that she was no longer sitting on and holding Naruto. No, she was sitting on her pillow, holding and had kissed Naruto's pillow. Her ire only rose when she turned around to see Naruto laying across his bed waving to her.

"I didn't know you had a thing for pillows. Just make sure you two aren't too loud tonight. You wouldn't want any of the other prisoner to find out about your little adventure." The cheeky tone Naruto used when he taunted her just infuriated her more.

Angrily, Ryuuzetsu stood up with the pillow in hand and stomped across the jail cell. She stopped herself in front of Naruto's laying form. She deposited of the pillow on his bed and retreated towards her bunk. Without a word, she pulled the blanket over her body and went to sleep.

Naruto knew he went too far with that last joke. He knew he shouldn't have played with fire. Hopefully, he wakes up tomorrow without several stab wounds in his abdomen.

-The Next Day-

The bell rung loudly throughout the cafeteria. Naruto looked up from his repulsive meal to try and find Ryuuzetsu. She refused to speak to him when they awoke in the morning and once they were released into the cafeteria she disappeared. The metaphorical thin ice Naruto was walking across the previous night had broken and he was now sinking in the metaphorical water.

Sighing in resignation, Naruto stood up and retraced his steps back to the recreation building he was at the previous day. Along the way he couldn't help but think of a way to try and remedy his situation with Ryuuzetsu. The mission would be infinitely harder to complete if they were mute with each other. He pushed those thoughts into the back of his mind as he approached the recreation building. Naruto needed to be focused. In order for the mission to continue he needed to impress the prisoner colluding with Mui.

Walking through the first floor of the building Naruto didn't waste a look either way, he was focused on reaching his current objective. Climbing the staircase, Naruto made it to the second floor of the building. Everything was the same as yesterday. The tables, the chairs, the walls, they all remained constant, the only difference was the occasion.

Crossing the room, Naruto took the most efficient route to the custodian's door. Grasping the cold metal handle, Naruto inhaled deeply and then exhaled, exhaling all the anxiety and nervousness built up in his body.

Naruto opened the door and entered the closet. He recognized the unwelcoming pipes adjourning the walls and the cold concrete floor. For the second time in a minute, Naruto deeply inhaled and exhaled, desperately trying to expel all of his nervousness. He knew delaying the inevitable would only make him more nervous, Naruto steeled himself. "I can do this." Naruto kept repeating the mantra over and over to himself as he trekked down the long hallway.

Before he knew it, Naruto was at the opening of the walkway and had entered the open room. Sitting crossed legged at the other end of the room was the darker skinned man from yesterday. Naruto slowed his stroll to a complete stop. Standing several yards away from the man, Naruto waited a minute for him to acknowledge his presence.

After a minute passed, Naruto reached deep within his throat and loudly cleared it. When the noise died out the inmate raised his head. Without a word he shifted his feet so he could stand up. Once he stood up his eyes met Naruto's blue orbs. A second later Mui's worker broke the silence, "Who the fuck are you?" The phrase was said with an imploring tone. It did not sound aggressive by any means.

"I was told by a little bird that I would find a man here that could give me a way out. Was I misinformed?" Naruto questioned the man, trying to act oblivious to the fact that he knew this man was his way inside.

The man chuckled before he opened his mouth to speak, "You never answered my question so I'm going to assume that you are Uzumaki?" The man's tone was nearly identical to Naruto's, interested and questioning.

Answering the man in front of him, Naruto said, "Yes, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. Now, can you answer my question?" Naruto crossed his arms, giving off the aura of an impatient man. Naruto truly wanted this meeting to get over with as soon as possible. Yesterday, the two quarreling inmates spoke of a riot happening today. Naruto wanted to see this riot for himself. He might be able to do a little more reconnaissance of the compound during the mess.

Naruto was broken out of his musings when the man responded, "Yes, I can be your way out. Do you live up to your legacy though? I need seal masters, not some kid riding on the tails of his ancestors." The man's word held truth. He did not know anything more about Naruto than his name. To get inside Naruto would have to play one of his cards. He would have to show his sealing abilities. Hopefully, he will not have to fight Mui later on. The element of surprise can be instrumental to the assured success of a mission.

Deciding the best course of action was to show one of his abilities Naruto took his left hand and reached over to his right sleeve. As if he wanted to build suspense, Naruto slowly rolled up the sleeve of the orange jumpsuit he was wearing. He soon replicated the motion on his left arm with his right hand. Now on show for the inmate was Naruto's collection of seals. His previously hidden arms were on display for the dark-skinned man.

The man's eyebrows shot up to the point where they were touching his hair line. He failed to hide how surprised he was. The different seals on Naruto's arms could barely be identified by the man. He thought one of them was a storage seal but the matrices around it made him do a double take. There was always that 0.01% chance that these were just intricate tribal tattoos but that thought was soon banished from the man's mind.

"I apologize. It appears you do live up to your ancestors." The man's eyes scanned Naruto's arms. His eyes trailed them up and down, scanning every brush mark.

"I'm happy I proved my worth but you still never told me how you would help me out of this joint." Naruto's expression steeled and his figure now did its best to intimidate the smaller man.

"Ok, Ok, Ok…" The man gestured for Naruto to calm down. It appeared as though his intimidation tactic worked. "In several days' time meet back at this very spot during free time. I am collecting sealers for a special project commissioned by Mui. I don't know what the project entails but he promised shorter prison sentences and possibly freedom to those who cooperate." The man smiled, he was probably thinking about those last five words that he spoke. "…possibly freedom to those who cooperate." Naruto didn't blame him for being selfish. In this world there were few people you could rely on.

Naruto took a deep breath and tried to hold his commanding visage, "Is that all?" Naruto's commanding tone left no room for a sarcastic response.

"Yes, that is all," responded the dark-skinned man.

Seeing as the conversation and meeting had come to an end Naruto turned on the balls of his feet and walked towards the closet door. He didn't need anything else from this man. He had accomplished what he came here to do. He had a way into Mui's project, he had a way to access the box, he had a way to end this mission sooner than later.

-Until Next Time-

Thank you for reading!

Please leave a comment or opinion. Constructive criticism is welcome. Remember to vote, the poll will be closed in exactly one week's time.


	7. Chapter VII

AN: Hello everyone! Thank you all for your continued support of my story. I didn't change anything plot related when I edited the previous chapters so you don't have to go back and read the previous chapters. I know the chapters have been lacking fighting…. Hopefully this chapter changes that.

I don't own Naruto

Chapter VII

The door shut with a soft click. Naruto had just finished his conference with Mui's recruiter and was now exiting the recreational building.

After the door clicked shut the first sounds to invade Naruto's ears was screaming and the smacking of flesh. Immediately Naruto found the source of commotion to be a riot in the middle of the courtyard, along the path in the middle of the 16 buildings. The riot had started while Naruto was meeting with the inmate.

Taking off in a sprint, Naruto ran towards the large brawl. On the other side of the brawl happened to be the cafeteria building. Naruto wanted to use the riot as a distraction to explore the spare room of the cafeteria uninhibited. The guards would surely be busy controlling the rowdy crowd outside.

Coming up on the riot Naruto witnessed a blood bath. It was an unorganized mosh pit. Every man for themselves was the mentality apparent to every inmate. There were no groups fighting other groups. It was just a free for all.

Naruto's attention was suddenly grabbed by the man coming right towards him. Naruto had no time to size up his opponent as he dodged a sloppy right hook by the assailant. He was obviously not trained because as Naruto dodged the man he was left off balance. He had put a lot into that punch. With the man now flying by, Naruto kicked his legs out from under him, forcing him to fly into the rocky pebble landscape. Not giving the man any time to react Naruto was on top of him in a flash and with a quick karate chop to the back of the head, the man was incapacitated.

Looking up from his seated position on the prisoner's back Naruto saw that he had the attention of several other inmates now. Three to be exact. As Naruto started sizing them up he realized that the three inmates looked like each other, down to every facial feature. They must be triplets.

The staring contest was cut short as the triples charged towards Naruto. They knew what they were doing too. The tree siblings zigged and zagged as the charged. The siblings farthest to the Naruto's right aimed a snap kick low, intending to hit Naruto's right knee. Naruto's attention was cut in half as the sibling on the left simultaneously went high with a right cross aimed for the left side of Naruto's mandible. The sibling in the middle held back, presumably looking for an opening.

With precision gained from years of training Naruto bent his knees and flipped over his opponent to the left. As Naruto was flipping over the first triplet he grabbed the outstretched arm of the man. Naruto smoothly turned the man's arm over as he landed his flip. The man's arm was now turned over with his elbow joint now flush against Naruto's shoulder. In one quick motion Naruto ruthlessly snapped the man's arm like a twig.

Naruto knew his movement was effective when he heard a loud scream from the man behind him. As if the scream was his trigger to move the second triplet that hung back sprung towards Naruto. Hoping to catch him off guard the second man went for a flying kick. That was a mistake because once you are in the air, you can't dodge anything thrown at you whether it be a jutsu, a throwing knife, or even your own sibling.

Gripping the first siblings broken arm even tighter Naruto bent his knees and got low to the ground. In one swift motion, Naruto swung the man around his body once before letting go and letting his momentum carry him into his brother. The two siblings crashed into each other with a pair of loud grunts.

As Naruto released the first man he saw the third triplet dash towards him with new found speed. The third man planted his front foot and sung his back leg around hoping to land a hard roundhouse kick. Naruto simply ducked underneath the kick and with his back exposed Naruto quickly jabbed the back of his head, knocking him out instantly.

Naruto watched the third triplet ceremoniously drop to the ground unconscious and then turned his head to stare down the two remaining triplets. The first triplet was holding his broken arm gingerly while glaring daggers at Naruto. Peering to his left Naruto saw the second triplet replicating the look of his brother.

Nearly a second later, the second triplet charged at Naruto. Hiding in the shadow of him was his sibling. The second triplet went low with a leg sweep, hoping to knock over Naruto. Without breaking a sweat Naruto jumped backwards, successfully avoiding his kick. Leaping over his brother, the last triplet went for the knock out. He swung his right leg straight up. He wanted to decapitate Naruto with an axe kick. What he wasn't expecting thought was for Naruto to kick off the ground and jump towards him. Naruto contorted his body around the kick and brutally smashed his right elbow into the jaw of the third triplet. He blacked out before he ever hit the ground.

Looking on with an exasperated expression the second triplet was sweating profusely. The man in front of him had dismantled him and his siblings easily. Recognizing defeat was coming the last conscious siblings raised both of his hands in the air and slowly walked towards his downed brothers. When he reached his brothers, he picked them up one at a time. Throwing each one over one of his shoulders. Cautiously, He backed away from Naruto. Retreating into the fracas in the background.

With his enemies defeated, Naruto dashed through the riot. Errand arms, legs, and extremities were flying around like bugs around a lamp. Naruto barely dodged a fist to his right before he was hurling over a downed inmate. This continued for a minute, once Naruto escaped one attack he was onslaught with another. Only his agility kept him from being struck. After a minute of playing dodgeball with human extremities, Naruto made it to the outskirts of the mosh pit and was now across from the cafeteria.

-Inside the Cafeteria-

The doors shut with nary a sound. Slowly, Naruto peered across the cafeteria to try and find any movement that would show the presence of another person. As Naruto was peering across the room he saw a lone figure sitting at the far table, the table directly next to the entrance of the other room. Acting oblivious to the man's presence, Naruto trekked towards the other side of the room. Naruto hoped that the man had not noticed his presence.

As Naruto reached the end of the cafeteria he heard a distinct annoying voice call out, "What brings you to these parts Blondie?" It was Maroi. The lone figure in the room just had to be Maroi.

Naruto pivoted his head in the direction of Maroi's voice and saw the man grinning like a happy go lucky idiot. Seeing no way of avoiding a confrontation, Naruto made his way over to the table. Naruto did not like where this was going. From their first meeting Naruto never really felt right around Maroi. Something always seemed off about the man.

"I planned on using the riot outside as a diversion to explore more of the prison. I was going to start with the room behind you." As Naruto was talking he had finished making his way over to the table and was now sitting across from the sketchy Cloud ninja.

Maroi's happy go lucky expression changed to be more stoic as Naruto explained his plan. A couple of seconds after Naruto finished explaining his idea Maroi reached back towards his man bun with his right hand. Pulling his hand back, Naruto could see a hair pin firmly held in between his thumb and index finger.

"If you want to explore the rest of this building then stay close and don't blow our cover. The minute you disappear, you are dead to me." Maroi's tone left no room for argument. Naruto's response was a simple nod in acceptance of his conditions. Naruto didn't have a problem with what he said. It would be hypocritical to criticize him over his words because Naruto would have said the same thing.

Standing up from the table the two comrades walked towards the door to the opposing room. Bending down in front of the door, Maroi stuck the pin in the lock of the door and started jiggling it around. 20 seconds later a distinct click signaled that Maroi had unlocked the door. Slowly and steadily Maroi pushed down the handle. Once the handle was fully extended, Maroi pushed the door ajar. Looking through the crack in the door Maroi checked to make sure there wasn't a guard or another person on the other side.

After several seconds Maroi opened the door to its full capacity. The room on the other side was nothing spectacular. It looked like a carbon copy of the inmate's lunch room. Tables were spread amongst the room, a large window was open along the wall for access to the kitchen, and the steel theme was apparent throughout the room.

As Naruto was observing the amenities of the room he noticed a staircase in the left corner of the room. Tapping Maroi on the shoulder, Naruto signaled with his hand towards the staircase. Maroi's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before his face returned to its neutral façade. Maroi nodded his head in a silent affirmative and the pair made their way over to the metal stairway.

Naruto had started climbing the stairs when he saw Maroi disappear from his peripheral vision. Looking back Naruto saw Maroi make his way over to the door they just came through. Naruto was confused before realizing that they had left the door ajar and never closed it. If anyone had visited the cafeteria they would have noticed the ominous open door.

Trying to ignore their obvious mistake, Naruto continued his trek up the stairs. He molded the slightest amount of chakra to his feet to quiet his footsteps. He was silent all the way up the stairs until he stopped at the opening to the second floor.

Naruto moved his head at sloth like speed around the corner. Observing the room Naruto saw it was as simple and drab as the first-floor room. It held several tables but the collection of cabinets and closets was much more apparent.

Naruto turned around to check his tail and he found Maroi standing a couple of steps behind him covering their backs. Naruto moved down a step and tapped the forearm of the Cloud ninja. Maroi instantly turned around to face Naruto. With his attention on Naruto, Naruto made a waving gesture that he was going to enter the room. Maroi just nodded in affirmation before Naruto turned the corner and entered the space.

Immediately, Naruto went to the first cabinet on the left side of the room and started to go through the contents inside. The contents of the first cabinet were nothing special. It was just general cleaning supplies. It continued like that around the room. Naruto found general supplies for the guards. In one cabinet he found toilet paper and shampoo while in another he found toilet bowl cleaner. The first part of his miniature mission had run straight into a brick wall.

Backing out of the final cabinet Naruto saw that Maroi had started going through the few closets that decorated the room. Standing up from his prone position, Naruto walked towards the closest closet. As he was about to grasp the handle and open it he heard Maroi quietly exclaim, "No!" As if the door was a hostile enemy, Naruto jumped back a few feet.

Looking over at Maroi in confusion he saw Maroi had a very serious expression on his face. "Some of the closets are booby trapped." Immediately, Maroi walked over and started to check the door. "It doesn't seem like any traps have been planted but you can never be too sure."

Naruto was beyond confused at this point. Why would guards lay traps around closets in their commons area? If the closets were protected by traps then wouldn't the cabinets be protected as well? It was absurd to think that the guards would lay traps for their coworkers. Then again, a certain purple-haired ninja back in the Leaf would do something like that so who was he to question these people.

After Naruto finished his line of thought he saw Maroi open the door to the closet and then simultaneously close it behind him. Maroi was acting very suspicious. What did he not want Naruto see? Is he trying to keep some secret? What is he trying to play at?

A minute later the door to the closet opened and Naruto saw Maroi walk out. He was wearing the same clothes and nothing about his appearance had changed. That detail didn't deter Naruto though. He got an ominous feeling about this entire situation.

"Is there something you don't want me to know?" Naruto decided to just call him out on it. No more speculating or bullshit. He wanted to know whether his informant was really who he said he was.

Walking out of the room Maroi tossed a kunai knife to Naruto. After Naruto caught the knife his eyes returned to Maroi to see a plethora of weapons in his hands. Maroi cleared his throat and said, "There is no space in that room. It took me awhile to find all of the right weapons as well. I knew we couldn't hide long swords in our jumpsuits so I gathered all of the smaller weapons from their armory."

Naruto nodded his head and accepted his explanation for now. It still doesn't explain why he closed the door on himself. Why would you need privacy for what he just did? Naruto would keep the rest of his suspicions to himself for the moment being.

Pretending to be unfazed by the smooth explanation Naruto walked around Maroi with the knife still in his hand and made his way into the closet. The closet was a tight space. There was little room for movement. Swords, knives, kusarigamas, and everything in between lined the walls like wall paper. Finishing his quick investigation Naruto gave in to Maroi's statement. He could very well just be over thinking all of Maroi's movements. Naruto needed to just relax and focus on finishing the mission.

As Naruto was about to walkout of the closet he noticed a stack of weapon bags in the corner. All of the bags were a dark black except for the burlap sack half hazardly thrown on the very side. Burlap sacks where a common mode of transporting materials for ANBU's. The bag was commonly used by tradesman and it was common amongst civilians but all ANBU bags had one key difference. The inside of the bag was always lined with Kevlar so knives and ninja stars would not poke through the side. The inside of this bag had Kevlar.

Naruto could just be over-thinking this entire situation. If an ANBU had infiltrated this prison it isn't practical for a supply drop to be made inside a guard's armory. It also isn't farfetched to think that some of the guards at the prison are highly trained and supplied well by the Village Hidden in the Grass. Naruto will need to ponder this more when he gets back to his cell.

Walking out of the closet Naruto saw Maroi tying different knives to his body underneath his clothing. Maroi had removed the small amount of string that was strung throughout the material he wore. His jumpsuit was falling apart at this point. He sleeves were reduced to two pieces of material hanging off the torso of the suit.

Following along Naruto used the tip of the knife, just the tip, to cut one of the pieces of strings sewn into his jumpsuit. Then, he proceeded to pull on the end of the string until it was completely removed from the suit. The string Naruto had pulled out was about the length of his forearm.

To complete the next step, Naruto laid his left forearm flush against the table. The palm of his hand was facing the ceiling. Now with his right hand he placed the knife along his left forearm. Taking the string, Naruto slowly encircled his arm several times before tying the loose ends together. The knife was now firmly secured to his forearm, hidden underneath his jumpsuit, and ready to be transported back to his room.

The knife was now tied snug to his arm, Naruto started to exit the room. Looking back, he saw Maroi had just finished fastening all of the weapons to his body and zipped up his prison attire.

Naruto exited the room and made his way down the stairs. The mission was a partial success. He had discovered what was behind the door but he still had yet to locate the box. Naruto did have access to a weapon though. The knife will come in handy in the future, he was sure of that. This mission did raise more questions about Maroi though. His character was always in question but none more so then now. He acted fairly suspicious at the last closet and then he found the ANBU bag inside. Naruto would have to consult Ryuuzetsu on this issue.

-Back at Naruto's Cell-

Naruto returned to his cell to find it to be empty. When he left the cafeteria, the riot had been diffused and inmates were either punished or brought back to their cells. He had wanted to explore more of the nooks and crannies in each building but the guards saw him the minute he left the lunch room. Subsequently, he was escorted back to his cell.

He was hoping to find Ryuuzetsu when he returned to his cell. There weren't many places she could be. Free time had ended basically when the riot started.

A rough voice broke Naruto from his thoughts, "All right maggots! Due to the riot we have to do an inspection. Step outside your cell and stay situated there until your cell has been cleared by the guards. Then you can go back to touching yourself or whatever the fuck you do in that cave."

Naruto started sweating profusely. He needed to hide the kunai knife he stole from the guard's armory. Thinking fast Naruto lifted up his mattress so it was now leaning up against the wall. Swiftly untying the knife from his arm Naruto pointed the edge along the mattress. He made a small two-inch-long incision along the mattress. He stuffed the knife inside the mattress and flipped the mattress back down on the cot.

Looking around Naruto realized that Ryuuzetsu still wasn't here. Where could she possibly be at a time like this? Naruto racked his mind of all the possible things she could be doing right now.

-Flashback to Yesterday-

 _Naruto paused in his story to observe Ryuuzetsu's reaction. She moved her right hand up to her chin and a thoughtful expression was painted on her face._

" _If you are able to disguise yourself, do you think you would be able to change the appearance of an object, say a pillow?" Naruto's mind started working in overdrive to try and comprehend Ryuuzetsu's idea. Theoretically, it was possible. If he can disguise himself he, he should be able to disguise a small inanimate chakraless object._

 _Deciding to speak his mind, Naruto said, "I believe I can? Why?" Naruto did not have to wait two seconds before Ryuuzetsu started to describe her idea, "If you can disguise your pillow to be my sleeping figure then I will be able to explore the prison one night and look for the mystical box. We suspect the room where I would need to go. I would just need to find a way in."_

-Flashback End-

That crazy woman. She was going to discover what he just did. She was going to sneak into a guard's commons area. This wasn't going to end well. He was going to have to just go along with their bastardized plan from yesterday.

Naruto grabbed a pillow and started pushing miniscule amounts of chakra into the object. Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated on Ryuuzetsu's appearance. After a few seconds, Naruto opened his eyes to see a sleeping Ryuuzetsu in his arms.

Naruto knew this was his best shot. He held the disguised pillow as though Ryuuzetsu was fast asleep and was leaning on him. As Naruto finished adjusting "Ryuuzetsu" the door to his cell creaked open. It was showtime.

-Until Next Time-

Thank you for reading.

Please leave a review and tell me what your thoughts are on the chapter.


	8. Chapter VIII

AN: Hello all readers, welcome to the eighth installment of Hard Time. Life sucks. I'm sure everyone knows that already. You prepare for life to punch you in the face and kick you while you're down but sometimes the beating is worse than what you prepared for. As always, I implore you to leave a review on what you thought about the chapter and as always constructive criticism is welcome.

I don't own Naruto.

Chapter VIII

"Approach the door backwards with your hands behind your back." The command from the guard was something Naruto knew he couldn't do. If he was to play this off then he would need to be touching the pillow disguised as Ryuuzetsu at all times. The minute his touch was disconnected from that pillow is the minute the guards would see that Ryuuzetsu is not in the cell and the minute they would start hunting her down.

Naruto tried to be smart about the situation. Maybe he could talk his way out of it? With that idea in his mind Naruto said, "My apologies gentleman but I won't be able to follow your orders. You see my cell mate decided to test the limit of the seal on her body…. Subsequently she has been knocked out for a couple hours now. I hope you don't mind if I hold her up during the inspection."

Naruto prayed that they would buy into his false explanation. Surely these guards have experienced an inmate that has tried to test the limits of the seal before? It didn't matter now. He had already pleaded his case. His only hope now was that the guards would buy it.

During the verbal exchange the guards had made their way into the entrance of the cell. The two men didn't look pleased. The guard on Naruto's right spoke first, "Fair enough, place your cell mate on her bed and we will inspect around her." The drawl accompanying the guards voice showed he was very unhappy about this entire scenario.

Naruto was sweating internally though. If he placed Ryuuzetsu on the bed his chakra connection would be broken and the result wouldn't be good. Thinking on his feet Naruto quickly retorted, "I wouldn't want to inconvenience your inspection. Please look around the cell while I stand outside with my friend." Naruto's smile didn't fool the guards, if anything they looked pissed off now.

The guard on Naruto's left removed his baton from his holster and approached him. "We will ask you one more time. Place your friend on the bed and approach the entrance of the cell backwards with your hands behind your back." The stern expression worn by the guard told Naruto that he was in the danger zone now.

Throwing caution into the wind Naruto walked towards the guards with Ryuuzetsu in his hands. "I insist though. I just want to help you here." Naruto's pleas seemed to work as the guard gave Naruto a nod in return.

The guard on Naruto's left walked past Naruto and into the cell. Naruto just ignored him and continued his slow trek towards the cell entrance. What Naruto wasn't expecting though was for the guard who went in behind him to take his baton and slam it into his left hamstring. With a loud grunt Naruto fell to one knee. The hard-molded plastic stung every fiber of his muscle.

The guard wasn't done though. He followed up the leg strike with a resounding strike to Naruto's back. This time Naruto couldn't help but release a small groan from his lips. The strike sent Naruto to the ground and left him in a prone position. Ryuuzetsu was now almost out of his reach the pillow disguised body was now just in front of his hands. The guard stood over Naruto, peering down on his like he was his prey. He turned to the other guard at the entrance and said, "Cuff him Fuji. I don't want any more problems during the inspection."

After several seconds the next sound to reach his ears was the clicking of hand cuffs. Naruto wanted to fight back. He could take these guards easily but where would that get him. They would call for back up and then they would uncover the secret of Ryuuzetsu's whereabouts.

Fuji then went to grab Ryuuzetsu's arm only for his hand to pass through her body. Confused as to what just happened he started probing that area with his baton. Like before, his baton went right through the apparition. Finally losing patience Fuji kicked Ryuuzetsu's body and his confusion changed into an expression of pure rage. When he kicked Ryuuzetsu's body away he saw her bodily apparition disappear and transform back into a pillow. Growling is a dangerous voice Fuji said, "It was a disguise, a fucking disguise! Kosuke! Sound the alarm, we have a prisoner on the loose!" Those were the last words Naruto heard as the Fuji's baton struck the back of Naruto's head, knocking him out.

-With Ryuuzetsu-

Her soft steps went unheard throughout the small room. The riot had provided the perfect cover for her to investigate most of the prison. Her original plan was to go building by building and hopefully find the Box of Enlightenment. That plan immediately changed though when she noticed some peculiar construction happening in the corner of the prison. It wasn't the type of construction that caught her eye though, wall and building upkeep was probably normal for a prison. It was where the construction workers were from. The construction workers were from the Cloud Village. Their hard hats had the traditional three clouds adjourned on the side.

What business did the Cloud village have here? She would have to ask Maroi about this. He would definitely know something about the project. She was regressing though. Her focus should be on the room she was investigating right now. Ryuuzetsu was currently inside the building across from the recreational building. This was her second building. She had an entire night to investigate the entire facility, she could afford to take her time.

The first building was nothing special. The first building she went to was the cafeteria. The mysterious room adjacent to the inmate's meal tables held nothing special. Some idiot even left the door to the room unlocked! The only notable thing she thought she found in that part of the building was the small armory, but even then, she couldn't take any weapons with her. If she carried a kunai knife or ninja stars with her she would be killed on site.

Ryuuzetsu figured she would find nothing in some of these buildings, that's why she went straight for the administration building after her escapade in the cafeteria. That lead her to the very room she was in right now. She was in what she could only assume to be the records office. File cabinets lined the walls. The only thing in this room was file cabinets. Feeding her curiosity, she opened the middle drawer of the first cabinet. She started to flicker through files and it didn't take her long to figure out that these were all the files on all of the inmates in the prison.

The files were alphabetized by last name. Immediately her first thought was to find the file on Maroi, maybe learn more about the elusive and sketchy man but she quickly discarded that idea. These files were alphabetized by last name. She didn't know the man's last name and she didn't have the time to look through every file. Her second thought was to possibly find a file on Mui. She immediately pushed that thought out of her head though. Why would a prison have a file on its own warden? That seemed ludacris at best.

She did know the last name of her cell mate though. With that in mind she dashed over to the file cabinets that held all the files with prisoners whose last name started with the letter N. Flipping through the files Ryuuzetsu finally made it to a file with a tab labeled, "Namikaze, Naruto".

Opening the file, the first thing she came across was multiple copies of his mug shot. The pictures weren't what interested her though. She wanted details. Turning the pages, she finally came across the information she was looking for.

Namikaze, Naruto

Age: 19

Skill Level: High Jonin, High A-rank

Known Abilities: Toad Summoner, Seal Master, High A-rank Taijutsu, High B-rank Ninjutsu, C-rank Genjutsu, and S-rank Stealth

Notes: Don't engage without proper back up

Grade A++ Flight Risk

Recognizable by his bright blonde hair and numerous tattoos

Her accomplice wasn't someone to be trifled with if this file held any merit. Before she pondered the file any further she made the quick decision and ignited a small ember from the tips of her finger. It was a chakra control exercise for fire manipulation. It was used by genin and chunin to help them gain control over the wild element. But, it had many other practical uses like lighting a fire for example and that's exactly what Ryuuzetsu was using it for right now. If Naruto could disguise a pillow with chakra then a simple low maintenance chakra manipulation technique should be usable.

A small flame burst forth from her index finger and lit the folder. The folder didn't stand a chance against the flame as it succumbed to its intense heat. It was prudent that nobody knew the abilities of herself or Naruto. This mission needed to succeed. She didn't want to be stranded here the rest of her life.

After the file finished combusting she turned her attention towards a file cabinet a foot away. If the letter N was stored here then the letter R couldn't be far away.

Floating over to the next file cabinet Ryuuzetsu explored the files inside the container. Her fingers flipped through each folder filed away until she came across the one she was searching for. Her folder. Written in crisp ink along the manila folder was her name, Ryuuzetsu.

Hesitantly, she gripped the folder and removed it from its place in the cabinet. With the folder now sitting in front of her she flipped the file open to see the contents of it.

Ryuuzetsu

Age: 22

Skill Level: Low to Mid Jonin, Low A-rank

Known Abilities: High Affinity to Fire also Proficient with Wind, Mid-A rank Taijutsu, Low-A rank Ninjutsu, D-rank Genjutsu, C-rank Sealing

Notes: Don't engage without proper back up

Grade C Flight Risk

Recognizable by her grey hair and amethyst eyes

Ryuuzetsu wasn't surprised by the information but she was concerned. Her enemy knew her skills and assets while she was none the wiser on their attributes. It created a distinct advantage for Mui and his lackeys should a confrontation happen later. That is, if they have this folder.

Replicating her previous action with Naruto's folder, she lit her folder ablaze. The crumbling embers were what remained of her folder after 20 seconds.

Finishing her dirty work Ryuuzetsu prepared to leave the room where she was welcomed with a frightening sound. It was a screeching alarm she knew all too well. It was the alarm sounded when an inmate has escaped. It couldn't be sounded for her right? Naruto was covering for her. Right? They kind of agreed on this plan the previous night. She was just being paranoid.

Calmly, Ryuuzetsu breathed in and out. She would trust Naruto and that he enacted the plan when he realized she wasn't returning to their cell. She knew they would check all the cells to see if anyone else escaped so retreating back to her partner would be suicide. She would need to find a place to ride out the storm for the night.

Slowly, Ryuuzetsu slid open the door to the file room and peaked outside to see if she had any company. There was none. She continued to slide the door open to the point where she could slip through the small crack. Contorting her body to fit the opening Ryuuzetsu made it to the other side of the door.

The administration building was dark and empty as most of the staff had left for the day. The records office she just left was on the second floor of the three-story tall building. The first floor was nothing special. It was just a few office spaces spread amongst the room.

Walking back towards the staircase adjacent to her she climbed her way towards the final floor of the building. Ryuuzetsu didn't have to worry about tip toeing her way up the steps as the blaring siren masked her noise. Conquering the final step Ryuuzetsu now stood in front of the small third story room. The excess light from the bright searchlights showed through the window and enlightened the dark room. The room was painted a dark maroon and was furnished with a matte black desk, black leather furniture, and multiple matching black accessories. The clock adjourning the wall was covered in a dark paint job to match the rooms color palate as was the tall lamp hidden in the far corner.

Taking a step back, Ryuuzetsu now realized one very important fact. This was Mui's office. The workspace of the wicked. The desk of the devil. The escritoire of evil.

Sprinting behind the desk Ryuuzetsu stared at all six drawers of the wooden furniture. Anyone one of these drawers could hold the answer to why she was sent here in the first place. The drawers were symmetrically placed, three on the left side and three on the right side. Sliding out the first drawer on the left side Ryuuzetsu discovered nothing out of the ordinary. Just vials of ink and pens.

Sliding the first drawer shut, Ryuuzetsu moved onto the next drawer underneath. The second drawer was filled to the brim with scrolls. Reaching and picking up the nearest scroll, Ryuuzetsu unrolled it to discover that it was a financial statement from this past month. Grabbing another scroll, Ryuuzetsu unrolled it to discover that it was nearly identical to the first, the only change was that it was from two months ago.

Inferring that all the scrolls in that particular drawer were financial statement, she moved on to the final drawer in the column. As Ryuuzetsu slid out the final drawer in the column she froze. Despite the loud siren ringing off the walls, Ryuuzetsu thought she heard faint steps coming up the stairwell. She immediately closed the drawer and made her way towards the exit of the room. As she got closer to the opening, the sound of footsteps and voices became louder and more apparent.

Unconsciously, Ryuuzetsu had started breathing heavily as she looked around for secondary exit from the building. Thinking on her feet, she ran back to her original position behind the desk except this time she was facing the window. She searched around the window sill, looking for any possible way to open it. There was none. Turning around towards the staircase once again, Ryuuzetsu considered her options. Fight her way through the guard detail and try to disappear, break the window and disappear, or give herself up. The last option didn't seem very appealing to her so she expelled that thought from her mind immediately. After several seconds of careful consideration, Ryuuzetsu made up her mind.

Firmly grasping the back of the desk chair, Ryuuzetsu made a hammer throwing motion and released the chair so it was now flying towards the office window. Unfortunately, the glass cracked. It didn't break. Cursing under her breath Ryuuzetsu turned towards the staircase. The loud crack alerted the guards who were no doubt running up the stairwell this very moment. Any thought of breaking through the window fled her mind and was replaced with thoughts of giving herself up. The repercussions of getting caught escaping might not be as bad if she doesn't fight back. Weighing her options, Ryuuzetsu reached for the first drawer on the left side of the desk. Grabbing two pens she held them with a reverse grip, like they were kunai. She wasn't going to fight without a weapon.

With the pens comfortably sitting in her palms, Ryuuzetsu calmly waited for her company to arrive. She didn't have to wait long as several guards came bursting through the door. Three guards appeared at first. They came through the door in a triangle formation. One leading with two behind. Like a wild animal the first guard charged straight at the waiting Ryuuzetsu.

The first guard went for the haymaker. As he was running he swung his baton back and then with all the force he could muster, he swung it back forward in the direction of Ryuuzetsu's head. It would have made clean contact and knocked out any normal inmate. But, not every normal inmate was a jonin in ANBU. With grace attained by years of training, Ryuuzetsu smoothly ducked underneath the guard's swipe. The guard had put all of his weight behind the swing thus it was no surprise when he started to tumble forward.

Ryuuzetsu took advantage of the off-balance guard by stabbing one of the pens several inches into his abdomen. Blood spurted through the opening of the man's stomach. The new intense pain caused the reaction Ryuuzetsu wanted. He immediately bent over protectively, guarding the new wound in his stomach. This reaction was natural but also consequential as it left his backside prone to attacks. It was exactly what Ryuuzetsu was looking for. She quickly raised her arm and then smashed her elbow into the back of the man's skull. Knocking him out instantly.

Watching their comrade fall ignited a rage inside the other two guards. They exchanged a short glance and as if their eyes held a short conversation they charged at the same time. Ryuuzetsu brought her arms up in a protective position and prepared for the onslaught. The first guard went low and tried to sweep out her legs while the second waited for his chance to strike. Ryuuzetsu quickly deduced that she needed a little more space if she was to fight two opponents, jumping over the first guards leg sweep she used the second guard's chest as a spring board to propel her back behind the desk.

Once she landed, she looked up at the frustrated faces of the guards. In one swift motion she picked up several pens with her empty hand, the pens slid in between her fingers like they were shuriken, and aiming at the guard in the back she let the writing utensils fly towards their target.

The guard's eyes widened upon seeing the flying pens. Reacting as anyone would, he jumped back and brought up his baton to block the ink filled weapons. The pens penetrated and became stuck in the guard's baton. Only when he saw how deeply the pens were embedded in his baton did he realize how dangerous his opponent is.

The other guard was still on the ground with his leg extended from his attempted leg sweep. With the other guard now backed off he was a sitting target for Ryuuzetsu. Vaulting over the desk like a gymnast, she raised up her right leg and destroyed the sitting guards' knee with a vicious axe kick. A loud crack echoed through the room followed by a loud scream of overwhelming pain. The pain distracted the guard from reality as he didn't see Ryuuzetsu's left foot flying straight for his face.

The final guard was panicking now. She had just dispatched of his two comrades so easily. If he had any chance of taking her down, he would need at least three more guards.

Ryuuzetsu recognized the look in the eyes of the final guard. It was the look of fear. Gripping the pen in her hand tighter she ran at the last guard, intending on finishing this fast and escaping. That was until an intense burning pain spread amongst her entire body forced her to her knees. It felt like she was just hit with an A-rank fire jutsu. Cracking open her eyes she looked down at her body to see a blood red seal illuminated.

"You escape during your free time, sneak into my office, and then injure two of my guards'. We have a special place for people like you." A cold, cynical voice berated her from the entrance of the room.

Ryuuzetsu didn't even have to look up to know that Mui had activated his seal and was now going to punish her for her little adventure. She could only imagine where he was going to be sent before the pain overwhelmed her and knocked her out.

Mui turned to the only conscious guard in the room and ordered him to take Ryuuzetsu to Solitary Confinement. Nodding his head in understanding, the guard handcuffed the unconscious body of Ryuuzetsu and started dragging her by her arms towards solitary confinement.

-Until Next Time-

Thank you for reading! As always please leave a review as to what you thought about the chapter. Feel free to leave a suggestion has to how I can improve this story and as a writer.


	9. Chapter IX

Welcome all to Chapter IX of Escapades in ANBU. Thank you everyone for kind words and reviews on the past chapter. I really loved all the feedback I received. I am going to try and incorporate more fighting/action scenes in the coming chapters. Without further ado, here is the chapter.

I don't own Naruto.

Chapter IX

Rubbing his eyes, Naruto was stupefied. He could see nothing but darkness. His last memory was of himself being struck by a guard's baton inside his cell. He quickly deduced that wherever his new location was, it was his punishment for aiding an escapee.

Naruto's eyes didn't have long to assimilate to the darkness as a bright light showed down from the heavens. Naruto initially covered his eyes as the exposure to the newfound light nearly blinded him. After what felt like a minute of furious blinking, Naruto peered up to see the origin of the light.

The light was unnatural. It was a massive fluorescent light showing through the top of his new cell. His new cell looked like a twisted version of his previous. Instead of the bars being along one of the walls, they were located on the ceiling. To make matters worse, it appeared that there was a retractable roof that covered the bars, isolating him in complete darkness.

Peering around his cell, Naruto noticed he still had some of the same amenities as last time. He still had a bed, a toilet, and bland concrete walls. The only discrepancy between the concrete walls was that there was a large metal door fixed to one of the sides. It was probably how he was brought into the room.

Naruto was brought out of his musings by a familiar voice from above. Turning his head upwards, Naruto saw several figures peering down upon him in his cell. "Oh, how I wish you tried to escape as well. Chasing one person is fun but two people would have made my day." Mui's voice was filled with glee. That sadist relished the chance to hunt down prisoners.

Ignoring Mui's words, Naruto asked, "How long will I be in this cell?"

Mui's face adopted a serious expression before he said, "You will be locked in this room with no light for the next three days. You will soon learn that I can deprave you of the little things you do have inside this institution. Food and other necessities will be provided. I encourage you to spend your time wisely. Think of another way to try an escape with your friend." Mui's face changed into a crazed stare showing that he had lost all sanity years ago. "I look forward to the next exhilarating chase. Maybe this time I can even stretch my muscles a little bit." By this point Mui's mouth had formed a blood thirsty grin.

Turning to the guard to his immediate left, Mui said, "Throw her in."

Naruto's eyebrow rose with intrigue. Who was his roommate going to be for the next couple of days? Idealistically, he hoped that it would be Ryuuzetsu. They would have several days to consider their next move without interruption. Naruto was getting ahead of himself though. Mui was a diabolical man and from what he could see, Mui didn't do anything without a reason. With that line of thinking, Naruto could easily see Mui put another convict in the cell with him.

Naruto's thoughts were put on hold when he heard the clinking of the rusted metallic door opening. Naruto held his breath as he waited to see who would be joining him in his cell. To his much-needed relief, another guard dragged in the unconscious body of his cell mate, Ryuuzetsu. On instinct Naruto was about to reach out towards his comrade but a loud voice interrupted his motion. "Don't move! Any movement towards the guard will be seen as a sign of aggression!"

Naruto froze on the spot after he heard the command. He was already going to be encased in this concrete box for 3 days, he didn't need to extend his stay. What was interesting though is that the voice commanding Naruto wasn't Mui, it was one of his henchmen standing next to him. Naruto peered through the bars of his cell to look at the man.

The man giving the order was nothing special in Naruto's opinion. He was shorter than Mui by a couple inches. It didn't help that the man was a little on the heavy side either. Naruto muttered his thoughts under his breath, "If he ever had to wear my jumpsuit he would look like a massive orange."

Naruto's attention returned to the guard inside his cell. The man laid Ryuuzetsu down on the bed inside the cell. Taking a better look at the bed, Naruto could see that it was an exact replica of the one he had used the past few days. Just a slab of concrete with a cheap mattress and scratchy blankets.

With her body now on the bed, the guard swiftly left the room. The clinking sound of metal hitting metal notified Naruto that the door was locked and he was not leaving for a while. The clinking sound returned and Naruto looked towards the door thinking it was unlocked. It wasn't the case. The light in the room quickly started to recede and that was Naruto's first indication to look up. When Naruto tilted his head upwards he witnessed the retractable door closing, enveloping him in darkness.

Breathing in deeply and exhaling with the same depth, Naruto closed his eyes before opening them. He would need to wait awhile for his eyes to adapt to the newfound darkness. The only thing he could do now is be patient. He would wait for Ryuuzetsu to reawaken, ask her if she found anything, and talk about how to approach the mission from their new position.

Seeing as she was unconscious, Naruto sat down against the concrete wall. Leaning back, the cold rock felt like a large ice wall. Letting the cold wash over him, Naruto tried to relax. With relaxation in mind he closed his eyes and waited for Ryuuzetsu to awaken.

-Several Hours Later-

Naruto eyes fluttered open to complete darkness. He rubbed his eyes thinking he was trapped in an illusion only to remember his current predicament. Before his thought starting raging, Naruto heard the rustling of a blanket and soft groan. Naruto looked towards the sound but the black atmosphere prevented him from seeing anything.

Naruto pushed himself up, stretching out his stiff back in the process. Up against a concrete wall wasn't an ideal place to take a nap. When he finished stretching Naruto started to navigate across the cell when a voice stopped him.

"Who is there?" In a demanding voice, Ryuuzetsu questioned the dark vicinity around her. The last thing she remembered was being knocked out inside Mui's office. Her new pitch-black surroundings put her on edge immediately.

Hoping to put her at ease Naruto simply said, "It's Naruto." Naruto couldn't see her but he hoped that she relaxed a little from his statement.

Ryuuzetsu relaxed slightly but kept her guard up. They could have captured Naruto and were using him to get to her. She couldn't put her guard down when the situation was still relatively unknown. Slowly, Ryuuzetsu slid off the bed and shakily stood up. She felt the hard surface against her feet, reaching down she felt the cold concrete floor.

Rising from her crouched position, Ryuuzetsu carefully put one foot in front of the other and made her way towards Naruto's voice.

Naruto's sixth sense perked up slightly. He had a feeling something was within his reach. This sense saved him from flying kunai and errant justu's multiple times so he had the upmost faith in it. But, what could be within his reach? Ryuuzetsu was on the bed, at least that's what he assumed. Reacting on his feeling his right hand flew out in front of him and grabbed at darkness. It was darkness, until his hand firmly wrapped around someone's wrist.

Ryuuzetsu froze as she felt someone grab her wrist. Thinking fast she took her hand and gripped the wrist of the mystery arm. When she felt the wrist of the opposing person it gave her an idea as to where the other person was. Going for broke, she bent her legs slightly. Before shifting her weight forward, swinging her back leg straight for where she thought the other person's head was.

The rippling air gave away the fact that she miscalculated her kick. They must have been farther away than she predicted. As she was bringing her leg down she was caught off guard when the hand pulled her forward. The strength of the pull almost made her fall to the ground. But, as she was stumbling around she was tackled by the owner of the mysterious hand.

Reacting to the takedown, Ryuuzetsu tried to wrestle her way out from underneath her attacker. All of her effort was a waste as her arms were pinned above her head and the weight of her opponent sat on top of her. She would continue to fight though. She just needed to loosen the grip the person had on her. Then, she may have the opportunity to turn the table in her favor.

Naruto didn't know how the situation got out of hand this fast. He realized that he could have handled better than this. He needed to put an end to this little battle though. Calmly, Naruto said, "Ryuuzetsu, stop." It wasn't said in a commanding voice, it was said in a soft, calm voice. It got his point across though as the girl underneath his stopped trying to escape his hold.

"You're attacking your teammate, Naruto. Now I'm going to let go and-" Naruto couldn't finish his sentence as he was harshly cut off by Ryuuzetsu.

"And how do I know that you're Naruto? How do I know you're not some imposter planted in this cell by Mui? You have no proof, just empty words."

Naruto was slightly astonished by Ryuuzetsu's outburst but he began to think of a way to prove his statements to the grey-haired girl. A small smile crept onto Naruto's face as he thought of his little ploy. This could go two ways, one, Ryuuzetsu is flustered and is too embarrassed to react, or two, Ryuuzetsu punches him. He hoped for the latter.

Naruto forcefully held Ryuuzetsu down as he lowered his body so that they were nearly touching. He positioned his head just to the side of Ryuuzetsu's. His mouth not even an inch from her ear and then he whispered into her ear, "Only the real Naruto would know you have a thing for pillows."

Ryuuzetsu laid there underneath Naruto. Her face looked like a massive tomato but you wouldn't be able to tell from the lack of light. Shortly after Naruto said his words though, he released his grip on Ryuuzetsu and started to get up. She knew that only Naruto would make that snarky comment after the stunt he pulled a couple of nights ago.

Once Naruto was standing again he reached his arm out and said, "Extend your arm so I can help you up."

Ryuuzetsu decided to take him up on his offer. Grasping his extended hand, she let herself be pulled up from the ground to her feet. Only once she was on her feet did she decide that retribution was necessary. She would get him back in due time.

Ryuuzetsu kept hold of Naruto's hand and she guided him back towards the bed she woke up from. "We have quite a bit to discuss. I learned several key details when I explored the prison."

Naruto continued to listen. He was interested in hearing what she discovered while she had been outside their cell. He didn't mind being led either. Plenty of girls dragged him around and told him what to do back in the Leaf Village.

Sitting down on the mattress Naruto and Ryuuzetsu tried to make themselves comfortable. Not surprisingly, it didn't work. While Naruto continued to move his butt around in search for the perfect spot, Ryuuzetsu began speaking.

"I suppose I should start with what happened after I escaped the massive brawl. I immediately went to the cafeteria since we suspected the room on the other side to be where they held the box. Unfortunately, I discovered nothing but the workers lunch area and a few weapon closets. I then moved on to the administration building where I searched through file cabinets and Mui's desk to no avail. I was eventually caught in Mui's work office. The one thing that caught my eye though was the construction happening on one of the walls in the prison."

Naruto was nodding his head while listening in as Ryuuzetsu gave her account of her small mission. Though he stopped nodding when she mentioned construction. If one of the walls of the prison was down that meant they had an escape route once they finished their business with the box.

Deciding to voice his opinion Naruto said, "This is good. It means that we have an escape route once we complete our mission, or worse case scenario, if we are discovered we can escape Mui."

Ryuuzetsu nodded along but due to the darkness Naruto couldn't see the puzzled look on her face. "The construction may have caught my eye but the workers piqued my interest. The construction workers were from the Cloud Village."

Naruto's eyebrows rose at that statement. Thinking it over for several seconds Naruto thought of the only two rational reasons behind a company from a major village working on a prison. "The only two reasons the construction crew could be here is, one, they are oblivious to our current objective and are here to do a contracted job. Two, they are working in conjunction with Maroi as back up for when we get to the box or need to escape. The only problem with two is that Maroi never told us about the construction crew…."

Naruto's voiced drifted off as he finished his answer. The construction crew gave birth to mixed feelings in Naruto's gut. He wanted to believe that the construction workers were their way out of this hell hole but Naruto knew better than to be optimistic with a ninja from a foreign village. He wouldn't be surprised if the Cloud Village was after something else within the prison or had an ulterior motive.

At this point, Naruto could feel his headache grow inside of his skull. Bringing his hands up, Naruto started massaging his temples hoping to find some solace from his touch. It wasn't his touch that calmed him down though.

As if she could sense his distress, Ryuuzetsu moved from her position on the mattress. Raising her hands, she let them rest on top of Naruto's shoulders. Cupping his shoulder's, she started slowly massaging him.

In Naruto's mind, Ryuuzetsu couldn't have picked a better time to help ease his stress. Eventually, Naruto's stature relaxed and he melted into her palms. His ease lasted for several seconds before doubt crept back into his mind. It was dangerous to drop your guard to anyone, especially a ninja from another nation.

Naruto was immediately put on edge when he felt a warm breath blow across the side of his face. Only now did he realize that Ryuuzetsu's body was flush against his back, every curve molded to his body, like they were two pieces of a puzzle. Ryuuzetsu's head moved farther forward to the point where her face was parallel to his. Space between them was non-existent.

Naruto's doubtful mind was replaced with a daring one. Despite his level headiness, he was prone to doing stupid things. He blamed his sensei's, especially Jiraiya.

Pivoting his head so he is facing Ryuuzetsu, Naruto could feel her breaths tickle his lips. With his daring mind fueling him, Naruto moved in to capture her lips.

But, his capture was unsuccessful. Instead, Naruto's face met a soft object covered in a rough sheet. Naruto didn't have to think too long about what happened. Ryuuzetsu got him back.

Ryuuzetsu broke out in a fit of giggles as she felt Naruto's face connect with the pillow. Her plan from several minutes ago came into fruition and succeeded.

As Ryuuzetsu's giggles started to recede she could hear Naruto grumbling under his breath. Deciding to pour gas on the fire she started taunting him, "Oh, is poor little Naru going through a dry spell inside the prison?"

Already a little salty from a couple seconds ago, Naruto wasn't going to let her have a victory lap. With his body facing her now, Naruto slowly crawled across the bed towards Ryuuzetsu.

Ryuuzetsu was a little more concerned now, what was he planning? Will he do a prank in retaliation? Those thoughts raced through her head as Naruto kept moving towards her.

In reaction to Naruto's advances, Ryuuzetsu started to lean backwards. When Naruto finished crawling he was nearly on top of Ryuuzetsu, who was now laying down on her back. Leaning down, Naruto reciprocated her taunting, "Are you sure it's not you who is going through the dry spell, Ryu?"

Ryuuzetsu didn't take kindly to the cocky tone Naruto used. She wasn't going to let him win this battle. She just came back and won round two. Round three would be hers as well.

Responding to his taunts, Ryuuzetsu propped herself up on her elbows, placing her face mere millimeters from Naruto's. "It's cute that you ask me the same question. When you crawled over me you answered my question." Ryuuzetsu smoothly said her sentence with a smug tone, baiting Naruto. She wasn't going to give him any sign that she wanted him. She was proud, she would make him break first, make him move on her, make him kiss her.

Naruto only grinned at her smug tone. Naruto knew she was going to flirt until he broke, until he made the first move. He refused to break though. He was going to make her give in. "If you aren't going through a dry spell and you don't care, then you probably won't mind sharing the bed with me tonight," Naruto spoke confidently.

Naruto also wasn't going to say it but sleeping on a concrete floor wasn't ideal. He already slept against the wall and his neck will probably be stiff for the next two days. He would share this bed with the entire Akimichi clan if he had too.

Ryuuzetsu wasn't going to back down. She has shared a bed before. Sharing one with Naruto wouldn't be any different. Maybe he was bluffing? The thought quickly came and went though. If any of the flirting was legitimate then Ryuuzetsu knew that Naruto was interested in her. She wasn't going to sleep on the floor either. The concrete floor looked about as comforting as Mui's smile.

Concluding, Ryuuzetsu said, "I don't mind sharing the bed, just don't get any funny ideas in the middle of the night. If you do think of something interesting at least wake me up so I can have some fun too," The teasing voice she used to say her words told Naruto that she wouldn't mind.

With their short flirt session over, Naruto laid down next to Ryuuzetsu to retire for the night. If today was anything to go by then the next couple of days would be very interesting.

-Two Days Later-

The midday sun was blinding. He felt like an old man that just had cataract surgery. Being deprived of light for three days will do that to you.

More importantly, it had been a week since Naruto had met with the man who said he could get Naruto into Mui's special project. Today, Naruto was hoping to find out if this special project included the box that Naruto was looking for.

As Naruto crossed the courtyard and recess area he reflected on his time in solitary confinement. He wouldn't really call it solitary confinement as his cell mate was with him for those three days. And for those three days they flirted, talked, and just acted like normal young adults. It's like they weren't even on a mission. It was a sweet escape from the penitentiary and the mission in general.

Maybe under other circumstances other things would have occurred between the two. The two of them did mention sex quite frequently and if the flirting was anything to go by then Naruto was certain they would have ended up at someone's apartment or in a hotel room. Naruto would be lying if he said he wouldn't want to do it and he was sure Ryuuzetsu felt the same way.

His reminiscing ended when he approached the recreation building. Naruto knew he couldn't afford to be distracted going into this meeting. This meeting could make or break this mission. Walking through the doors of the building Naruto ascended the stairs to the second level. He made his way through the empty room to the custodial door on the far side.

Opening the door, the long pipe filled hallway seemed to emit the sense of dread. Naruto did his best to not let his feelings control him. He fought his feelings and did his best to remain calm, cool, and collected.

Naruto strode through the hallway. The clapping of his feet against the concrete echoed down the long walkway.

Finally, Naruto reached the end of the hallway that opened up to the meeting spot. Naruto wasn't surprised to see the small black prisoner he talked to all those days ago standing there, waiting for him.

The dark-skinned prisoner broke the silence when he asked, "Are you the Uzumaki that Hiro was talking about?"

Naruto simply nodded in confirmation to the smaller man. It was better that Naruto played stupid about Hiro. If the prisoner or Mui found out about his charade questions would be raised and Naruto would rather not give them answers.

It seemed that the other prisoner was suspicious of Naruto though. His wary gaze gave birth to his next question, "Okay Uzumaki, where is your friend, Hiro? He was supposed to be in on this project as well."

Naruto knew there was a strong possibility that this question would be raised so he answered with the excuse he thought of beforehand. "Hiro was caught with some contraband inside of his cell. He is currently in solitary confinement. I don't think he will be out for awhile as he's a repeat offender."

Naruto hoped that he would buy the excuse. It wasn't overly elaborate. The excuse was simple and realistic.

"Fair enough," replied the prisoner. "It's his lost. This was his chance to leave this dump and he blew it. Now let's go to the meeting spot before Mui kills someone."

Naruto knew when he left the building with the prisoner that this was where his mission really began.

-Until Next Time-

I know I could have easily skipped their entire time in solitary confinement but that felt like cheating to me. Anyways, please leave a review, tell me your thoughts on the chapter. Constructive criticism is always welcome.


	10. Chapter X

Buenos noches y felíz navidad señores y senoritas! Saying hello and welcome every chapter was getting a little redundant so I thought I would use my limited knowledge of the Spanish language to spice up my author's note intro. I think this is the most work I have put into a chapter thus far, as for introducing new characters, trying to develop them quickly, and continue with the plot of the story. As always, please leave a review or comment on what you thought of the chapter.

Edit: It came to my attention that fanfiction didn't send out notifications when I updated the chapter originally. I deleted the updated post and posted this chapter again. Hopefully it works this time.

I don't own Naruto.

Chapter X

Naruto's eyes scanned his surroundings. Memorizing every little detail on his way to the new building. Everything was imprinted in Naruto's mind as he transversed from the recreation building to what he assumed was the subject of his mission.

The new building that Naruto was being led to looked like a warehouse. It was inconspicuous and blended in with the other depressing grey structures inside the prison's walls. The location of said building wasn't far from Naruto's jail cell. It was practically across the courtyard. Examining the building even further, Naruto tried to point out what made this building more special than the rest. Was it more structurally sound? Did it provide specific utilities for this project? The questions continued to pile up in Naruto's mind as they approached the metal doors.

Naruto came to an immediate halt when the prisoner leading the way stopped at the door. The man raised his left hand, forming a fist with his hand, he proceeded to knock in a complicated pattern. Naruto started to speculate that he was using morse code to speak with the person on the other side of the door.

Testing out his hypothesis Naruto tried translating the knocks and pauses. From the little morse code he was taught in his general ANBU training Naruto could decipher several key phrases hidden within the metallic dings. The one phrase that stood out the most was "mail man." Naruto could easily infer that the inmate in front of him was using the code to refer to himself and signaling to the warehouse's inhabitants that he had arrived.

After a longer than normal pause the metal door creaked open. The high-pitched creak was almost cringe worthy. Only when the door extended to reach its farthest point did the man signal for Naruto to follow him inside.

The room Naruto ventured into was nothing special, if anything it was as bland as the building. The room was lined with concrete walls. The walls directly across from the entrance was the only unique slab of concrete as there was another metal door hung towards the left side of the room and plastered in the middle of the wall was a window protected with iron bars.

Naruto immediately started questioning who opened the door. He peered around the room trying to find another presence located in the vicinity but found none. He never voiced this question though. Curiosity killed the cat and Naruto didn't want to end up like a curious cat.

Peeking behind the door, Naruto noticed a motorized mechanism towards the top of the piece of metal. That motor had to be turned on by someone or it had to be triggered to open the door. Now, he just had to find the person that triggered the mechanism.

After he finished his peek, Naruto looked up to see the inmate approaching the window in the wall. The window appeared to be to a dark abyss. The only thing on the other side of the window was darkness. Not a single spec of light. That was, until a single overhead light was turned on. A single light bulb illuminated the figure on the other side.

With the light raining down on the figure he almost looked imposing. Almost. In truth he was almost as small as the inmate in front of him and was far less developed physically. He had to be a desk worker. His pitch-black hair contrasted his porcelain skin greatly. Another attribute that contrasted greatly were his two eyes, one eye was a light blue while the other was a dark brown borderline black. His heterochromia iridium aside, the man didn't look like anything special. Naruto's observatory thoughts were interrupted when the man started talking.

"Hello N-N-Nishiki, you're late f-f-for the meeting." The voice released from the man behind the bars was meek and nerve wrecking. He stumbled over his words like a child learning to speak. It certainly matched his small figure.

Naruto did learn one new piece of information though. The dark-skinned man that brought him here is named Nishiki. Naruto could have probably asked for that information himself but he didn't want to sound too interested. Part of this ploy was Naruto playing a self-centered inmate who just wanted his freedom.

"Shut up Kaneki. I'm here and that's all that matters. Just open the fucking door." From the tone those words were spoken Naruto could tell that the two didn't get along. He didn't care though. Naruto would let them fight all the want. He just needed a way in, those two were expendable in his eyes. That isn't to say Naruto is ruthless with his comrades, but he recognized when someone could be a detriment to his mission and wasn't afraid to act against them.

After a few more words and phrases exchanged between the pair Naruto saw the metal door adjacent to the barred off window open in a similar manner to the previous door.

The second door led them to another room of similar size and shape. The only difference was the occupants inside of the room. There were five people currently inside of the second room. Immediately to his left Naruto saw Kaneki, seated on a stool next to the barred off window. Turning his head in a clockwise format Naruto observed the rooms other four occupants.

The first occupant was a man in his twenties. He appeared to be of similar height to Naruto, a little over six feet tall. His hair stood out though as it was a snow white that reflected the little light in the room. His slightly tan skin almost made his light brown eyes blend in as if they were apart of his epithelial tissue. His skin tone didn't hide his features though as his slight plump cheeks and second chin gave away that the man was slightly on the heavier side of the weight spectrum.

The second occupant was on the other side of the weight spectrum. He was thinner with a little athletic build to him. His brown hair was a wild mess on top, like he just rolled out of bed. He looked slightly older than the previous inmate. Compared to the other inmate he was several inches shorter. One of the things that stood out against his Caucasian skin was a firm scowl. The man had a resting bitch face that was rivalled by no other. Naruto was surprised that the wrinkles weren't permanently imprinted on his face.

After finishing his assessment of the second occupant, Naruto moved on to the third person in the room. The final person was by far the oldest person in the room. He appeared to be middle aged, possibly in his fifties. His greying hairs only added to Naruto's suspicion. Along with his old appearance he had a small smile on his face. It was kind and welcoming, that only made him more dangerous.

When Naruto finally started assessing the last person in the room, his blood froze. The maniacal smirk and crazed glazed over eyes gave away the person's identity immediately. It was Mui.

"Welcome Naruto, Nishiki…" Mui drawled out the last vowel in Nishiki's name eerily, intimidating everyone in the room.

"Now that everyone is here, we can get down to business. All of you have been recruited for having some special attributes that I need for this project. This project revolves around an object within the prison. Should you help me with said object I can promise you certain privileges that other inmates won't have." Mui finished his statement by looking over all the people in the room. Mui's eyes were immediately grabbed when the first occupant started talking in the most obnoxious voice Naruto has ever heard.

"What are these privileges? I'm not going to waste my time on something that I don't know the outcome of. If I'm not going to get any compensation for my work then why should I help you? I was promised a shorter prison sentence or an independent cell. I expect to be given what I was promised."

Naruto understood who the man was from his little entitled rant. He was a noble. His heavier body type seemed to confirm that. Naruto never knew why but almost every noble he ever met was overweight. He was probably caught embezzling money or bribery. Typical crimes that are committed on a daily basis by the upper class.

Mui's eyes turned a darker shade then they already were. He definitely did not take kindly to the man's words. "Akio... I never promised you any of those things, that was Nishiki. I never told him any of those things. I told him that the help would gain certain privileges. Nishiki's bright imagination took my sentence and twisted it to his liking. Would you like to leave?"

The now identified Akio wore a puzzled expression on his face. He looked up to face Mui and froze. Mui was sending him the most chilling glare. The glare could turn Medusa into a statue. Wisely, in Naruto's opinion, Akio simply shook his head side to side, wordlessly signaling no.

"Good, now we can continue. Hopefully, uninterrupted." The last two words were coated with venom and aimed dangerously at Akio. The man nervously took two steps back. He looked beyond scared.

"Behind this door is the faciality at which you will all remain for the remainder of the project. Past this door is several rooms, a small lunch area, bathroom facilities, and everything you will need to survive. Obviously, you will still be under guard supervision and for a good portion, my supervision. So, in the event that any of you get creative ideas about escaping, I still remember how to use the half ram seal." Forming the half ram seal with his left hand, the seal on Akio's body immediately activated.

A scream of pain escaped Akio's lips. His body collapsed, hitting the ground with a thud. The horrifying scream got the message across to everyone in the room. Trying to escape would result in gruesome pain.

Shortly after Akio recovered, the group moved on to the next room. The next room was a massive open area. In the middle of the area was the objective of Naruto's mission. The Box of Enlightenment sat there, as if it was the centerpiece of the room. Looking around the rest of the room Naruto noted that there were two doors along the side wall to his left and that was it. The left side of room was bare, until he looked up. The room had a second story and on the second story were numerous cells that were close to replicas of the solitary confinement cells. A small bed with the bare necessities.

Turning his body, Naruto's eyes took in the right side of the room. Almost all of the facilities were located on that side of the room. The kitchen, the study tables, and a sitting area. There appeared to be one are two other sections but Naruto couldn't really discern what their purpose was from his viewpoint.

Naruto turned his full attention to Mui as the man approached the Box. The man carefully touched the Box like it was his child. After Mui finished caressing the room's centerpiece, he rotated to face all of the room's occupants.

"This object in the middle of the room here is what your project will be revolving around. Several of you have knowledge in sealing and others have sharp minds with excellent problem-solving skills. Each of you will use your individual skill set to solve the riddle of this Box. Now that all of the introductory work is done, I will leave you to select your rooms and get ready to start your work." Not even a second later, Mui walked towards the door from which they came.

Naruto watched the man exit and then his focus returned to the Box in the middle of the room. The Box itself was a large rectangle. It appeared to be a dark obsidian in color. The dark color helped hide the detailed seals that wove around the edges.

Walking up to the box, Naruto observed it more closely. It was fairly large. At least eight feet tall and three feet wide. It looked like it held a monster inside. Naruto really hoped that it didn't. Telling himself he would come back later, Naruto left the Box in the middle of the room and made his way to the steps leading to the second floor. The other inmates raced to the kitchen to feast on what food was held in the cupboards, it would be smart to take the best room and bed while the others were distracted.

Silently, Naruto ascended the metal stairs. He didn't need to alert the others of what he was doing right now. After climbing up the final step, Naruto stood in front of four separate cells. Each cell was a carbon copy of the next, concrete walls, a crappy bed, and a partially rusted toilet. Naruto had already decided what room he wanted though when he made it up the flight of stairs.

Naruto made nary a sound as he transversed from the top of the stairs to the end of the walkway. He reached his destination unnoticed and Naruto saw the cell that would be his for his little stay within the warehouse.

The one thing that this cell was solitude. It was in the very corner. It was the last to be checked. It almost guaranteed Naruto a little privacy. Using this little privacy Naruto would be able to clearly think out his next move. Now that he had contacted the Box, he needed to finish his mission by sealing it, which seemed unlikely, or destroy it.

Naruto walked over to the edge of his concrete slab bed and sat on the edge. The mattress replicated the comfort of his last. It would probably be even colder too knowing he wouldn't be sleeping cuddled next to Ryuuzetsu.

That's also problem that will have to be solved. How is he going to send messages to Ryuuzetsu when he will be locked in this building for the foreseeable future? These questions will have to be answered tonight. Now that he has claimed a bunk, he can sleep on a couple of these ideas. One thing Naruto doesn't need is to leave his bunk and have someone take it.

Naruto broke out of his musings as he saw one of the few guards on duty approach his new cell. "Prisoner! Is this the cell you have chosen to sleep in for the project?" The man's stern voice showed how serious he took his job.

Answering him Naruto simply said, "Yes sir."

The guard nodded and then grabbed a clipboard off the wall. While writing on the clipboard he muttered under his breath, "Prisoner Naruto Uzumaki will be staying in cell Ten-Two-Five."

Naruto quickly realized he was just verbalizing what he was writing on the clipboard. Forgetting about the guard, Naruto laid down on the bed. He stared at the ceiling like the answers to his problems were embedded in the concrete above him. Maybe he should nap on it? He didn't have anything else to do right now and he doubted that the others were eager to get to work. They were to busy stuffing their faces with foods of different varieties.

Deciding to give in to his tired desires, Naruto closed his eyes.

-Several Hours Later-

Naruto's sixth sense shook him like an earthquake. His eyes flew open to assess the danger. He saw a hand making a grabbing motion towards his body and he reacted immediately. Naruto grabbed the offender's arm, pulling them into a nasty snap kick.

By time the offender hit the ground Naruto was standing next to his bed, ready to identify the stranger. The plump body physique gave away the person immediately. It was Akio.

"Is that how you greet people?! You assault them?!" Akio's angry, annoyed tone didn't really affect Naruto. He should have known better than to try and wake a sleeping ninja.

"I simply reacted. I didn't know who was trying to touch me. Its better to overreact than to not react at all." Naruto's calm response seemed to draw out even more ire from the former noble.

"I don't know who you think you are but I'm going to tell the guard. I hope you enjoy sitting in solitary confinement, you scoundrel!" With that last word the man raced out of the open cell door and in the direction of the staircase.

Naruto should've been sweating profusely right now. He did just assault a fellow prisoner. One thing that the fat man didn't notice was the guard standing at the end of the walkway, watching the entire scene play out. Naruto was hopeful that the guard would just let it slide. Naruto's raging thoughts were quelled when the guard started to speak.

"Listen kid, I should have you in shackles right now after what you just did. But that plump bastard has been a pain in my ass ever since I got here and I definitely enjoyed seeing that. Between the two of us, he tripped and hit his face on the side of your bed. Just know that this is where my kindness ends. Another incident like this and I'm sending you to solitary confinement. Understand?"

"Yes sir." Naruto doesn't know if he ever responded faster in his entire life.

As the guard walked away Naruto released a deep breath. That was too close. His reaction almost cost him. That incident could've destroyed his entire mission. Sleeping with the door open was a stupid mistake. He should've known that one of the other occupants would've made their way to the second floor at some point. Naruto knew he needed to be smarter about his actions.

His recollecting was cut short by a low rumble coming from his abdomen. Naruto supposed it was around dinner time now. The lack of natural light and windows in the building made it hard to tell the time.

Naruto walked out of his cell, across the walkway and down the staircase to the first floor. After completing his descension to the floor below his eyes found his supposed coworkers for the project. The lot of them were all sitting around the table in the kitchen area all talking loudly about topic Naruto had yet to decipher. Walking towards the table Naruto's ears were able to pick out a few choice words, "freedom" and "hell hole" being two of them.

Approaching the small table in the kitchen area, Naruto made his was to the last open chair at the rectangular wooden table. The shoddy wooden chairs matched it well. Pulling out the bent plywood seat, Naruto sat himself down.

"So, the sleeping assailant has decided to join us…" The words were spoken with a distinct distaste. Naruto didn't even need to look up to know that it was Akio who was talking. He must still be sour from the facial reconstruction Naruto gave him.

Naruto didn't respond at first to the taunt. He just stared down the man with a deadpan look across the table. Rhetorically he responded, "Yes, because waking up a sleeping ninja is exactly the same as waking up a sleeping child…"

The two other men at the table chuckled at Naruto's remark. They obviously spoke sarcasm and understood his statement. The man to Naruto's left decided to speak next. "Unlike our eccentric friend here, I would like to start off on better footing. My name is Yoshi."

Naruto appraised the older man again. His soft voice and kind features were just as dangerous as when he first saw him. Naruto disregarded is feelings for now and extended his hand to shake Yoshi's. Naruto needed a seldom ally in this building if he was to survive. Hopefully, Yoshi would be that one.

With a firm shake of hands, Naruto started his own introduction. Turning to face all three of the other inmates at the table Naruto began, "My name is Naruto, from my previous encounter with the man sitting across from me-," Naruto was abruptly cut off by the noble screaming his name, "My name is Akio!" "-you know I am a former ninja."

Turning to his right, Naruto faced the last unintroduced person in the room. "And what is your name?"

The scowling man responded to Naruto's question, "My name is Eiji."

He didn't appear to be in a good mood. If anything, he looked frustrated with the entire situation. The nobleman probably drove him crazy while Naruto slept. That's was Naruto's best guess at the moment. Before Naruto could continue to think he was interrupted by Yoshi, "Now that we have all become acquainted with ourselves, I believe it's imperative that we create a plan of action. I believe if we're organized this small project will move along very smoothly."

Naruto couldn't agree more with his statement, "Do you have an idea of how to organize this project Yoshi? Would you like to assign each person a side of the box or do you have another idea in mind?"

Yoshi brought his hand to his chin in a thinking pose. After several seconds, he broke his pose and started speaking his mind, "I believe the best way to approach to this box is for all of us to try and work together. Four sets of eyes and four minds will solve the problem four times as fast."

The sarcastic frustrated voice of Eiji continued after Yoshi spoke his idea, "Yes because an entitled egotistical noble, a narcissistic pessimist, a calm optimistic idealist, and a cold-blooded killer will be able to work together with no issues what so ever…."

Naruto just deadpanned and stared back at Eiji with an unimpressed look. He may be a killer but he wasn't cold-blooded. But before Naruto could refute the assumption Eiji made about him, Akio spoke up, "Who do you think you are to make assumptions about me? I'm not an idealist! I'm the most realistic person in this entire room!"

The slap of Naruto face palming himself permeated the walls and resounded throughout the entire building. Apparently Eiji forgot to include stupid as part of his description of Akio. "Ignoring the assumptions made by Eiji, I for one agree with Yoshi's plan. I think it will work well. If we're all working on the same part of the box one person may see something that everyone else misses."

Yoshi nodded his head along to Naruto's words and then added, "Yes and in the event that we're all stumped we can compare notes and create a solution together."

Naruto cracked a small smile. At least there was someone he could work with in this place. Naruto just hoped that all of his smiles weren't misplaced. Yoshi did something bad did get into this prison, nobody in here was innocent.

Naruto stood up from the table and trekked towards the refrigerator. He was still hungry after all and food was the real reason he came down from his cell. Opening the refrigerator door, Naruto cringed. The metal hinges squeaked at an uncomfortable high pitch. It definitely needed to be oiled. Getting past the horrid noise, Naruto saw bento boxes stacked high and deep into the large fridge. Their food for the next week was all packed and stacked neatly. There were four rows and columns in the metal box. One row and column for each person.

Naruto reached in and took a bento of the top of the far-left column. Opening the container, Naruto saw nothing fancy. If anything, it looked like they were eating on a strict budget. A couple rice balls, a small tuna filet, and a small pile of vegetables laid inside the pre-packed box. A scowl found its way onto Naruto's face. This was half of what he usually eats. Then again, he usually eats two to three times the normal caloric intake. This could very well be a normal portion but he was far from normal. The fox in his gut is a constant reminder of that.

Naruto took the bento box back to his cell, he didn't feel like eating in the company of the three other inmates. It would be a lie if Naruto said Akio didn't get on his nerves and he was suspicious of Yoshi. It didn't take long for Naruto to finish his bento box, maybe ten minutes if anyone was counting.

As he stood up to discard the box, Naruto saw the guard from before approaching his cell door. "I know you can't tell time in here but it's time to lock up for the night. Just leave your bento on the ground outside the door and then return to the middle of your cell."

Naruto obeyed. He placed the box just outside his cell before walking back to the middle of his cell. He finally found the object of his mission, it would be stupid to blow it because he wouldn't listen to a lowly guard.

Laying down on his bed, Naruto continued to think about his next course of action. With the box almost in his possession he just needed to seal it or destroy it. Sealing it shut seemed like the easiest option. Using his blood, he could override the matrices lining the box and prevent anyone from accessing the seal or the box itself.

His thought process was inhabited for a moment though. There were four cells comprising the second floor and there were five inmates that walked into the building. What had become of Nishiki in the short time frame of him arriving to the building and Naruto taking a nap? It could've only been a few hours at most?

Naruto pushed the concern over Nishiki aside. His mission was much more important than the whereabouts of a random inmate. With his mind made up Naruto's brain returned to the objective at hand.

The harder and best option would be to destroy the box. The threat would be eliminated, despite his sealing abilities, Naruto knew there were other masters in the Elemental Nations that would be able to break his seal. The destruction of the artifact would also put a massive target on his back. Mui could very well kill him in retribution.

The destruction of the box could prove to be the distraction he needs to escape the building and leave through the Cloud Village's construction zone. If he was fast enough, he could probably escape during the confusion. That still left another problem. The seal on his body. Mui had control over everyone in the prison. This was quickly becoming one giant dumpster fire.

Feverishly, Naruto rubbed his eyes. His frustration was starting to twist his mind. He couldn't think clearly at the moment. The anxiety of all the factors that could go wrong was getting to him. Taking a deep breath, Naruto sat up on his bed and moved his body into meditative pose. Letting nature chakra seep in and out of his body always calmed him down. It always made him feel at peace.

The peace didn't last long as another presence made itself known. Quickly turning to his right Naruto saw a familiar face sitting on his bed. "I have a message from Jiraiya directed to you, Naruto."

The voice was stern and serious. It belonged to the fastest messenger toad in Mount Myōboku, Kōsuke. Kōsuke was a red toad a little bigger than Naruto's fist. He had blue marking over his eyes and a miniature pair of green goggles dangling around his neck. If anyone ever saw Kōsuke's back they would see the kanji for 'Gold'.

Naruto was happy to see a familiar face for the first time in a while. "Thank you Kōsuke. What did Jiraiya want to tell me?"

The toad didn't hesitate to pass on the message, "Jiraiya wished to know how you were progressing on your mission. Tsunade would also like an update as well. In the event that you needed it, Jiraiya offered to extract you from the prison."

Naruto grinned happily. It was always nice to know that people cared. Thinking carefully of his response, Naruto asked if the toad could wait a minute. Jiraiya could be his way out of this crazy prison. The destruction plan seemed to be a little more realistic at the moment. They had a way out, through the construction zone, and that could also work as Jiraiya's way in. His seal expertise also vastly outranked Naruto's. He could probably help him remove this painful seal before they escape the island.

Naruto now realized how much he was relying on Jiraiya. Maybe this is why they sent the messenger toad. Tsunade and Jiraiya both reviewed the mission and realized that assistance may be needed.

If Jiraiya arrived then Naruto could have the chance to escape but it would only feel like a half success. Ryuuzetsu would be left to rot in the prison until her village could extract her. That sketchy man Maroi would also be left to rot in this place. Naruto's morally right side was starting to make him feel guilty. As much as he wanted to take them on his escape this is the ninja business. A stab in the back is just another day in the office for them.

Deciding on his plan of action, Naruto quickly asked Kōsuke if he had a scroll, brush, and ink on his person. The toad responded with a nod before opening his mouth and passing Naruto a scroll with his tongue. Taking the saliva covered scroll, Naruto unrolled it and then took the ink and brush also offered by way of Kōsuke's tongue. Naruto quickly drew a basic map of the prison, he scribbled cardinal directions on the sides, and then added his location along with the location of the construction site.

Double checking his work, Naruto rolled the scroll back up and then communicated his idea to Kōsuke, "Please tell Tsunade and Jiraiya that I have found the box and contacted it. In two days', I will need Jiraiya to extract me from the prison. I will have destroyed the box and need assistance escaping. Return tomorrow night at this exact time so I can work out the extraction time. I have included a map of my location along with a weak point that Jiraiya can enter through to reach me."

Kōsuke just nodded his head along to Naruto's words. He soaked it all up like a sponge. After Naruto had finished his message, Kōsuke swallowed the map, put on his goggles, and left Naruto's cell in a poof of smoke.

Laying back down on the uncomfortable bed Naruto realized the downfall with his sporadic plan. He just gave himself two days to destroy this box and to get ready to leave. He needed to not only find a way to decimate the box but to find an escape route out of the building. This plan required him to act fast. Hopefully, when Kōsuke returned tomorrow Naruto will be able to plan an extraction time, destroy the box, and be sleeping in his own bed within the next couple of days.

-The Next Day-

Waking up to the incandescent light inside the building was something that Naruto definitely didn't enjoy. He didn't know if it was a result of his sage training but over the past couple of years, he has grown fond of natural light and the sun being his alarm clock.

Sitting up on the edge of the concrete slab they call a bed, Naruto twisted his upper body left and right. A distinct set of cracks was heard in succession after each twist. Each crack signified that much more relief felt by the blond.

Looking over towards his cell door, Naruto noted that it was still shut. The guards still haven't arrived for the day. Today was going to be the big day. Naruto had to create the explosive seal that would detonate the box, find a weak point in the building to escape, and plan his escape.

While thinking over what he had to accomplish today, the guards arrived at the building. Naruto was broken from his thoughts by the jingling of keys and the sound of the metal door sliding open.

The guard didn't even exchange pleasantries, he just opened the door and went about his business. The open door just meant one thing to Naruto. It signaled the beginning of the end, the end of his stay in Blood Prison.

-Until Next Time-

Thank you as always for reading. Let me know what you think. Was it better that I wrote the two chapters as one or should I have separated them?


	11. Chapter XI

Hello Everyone! You don't know it right now but a lot of research went into this chapter. Despite my extensive knowledge of Naruto, I needed to consult several websites on specific techniques and other things. I hope the information helps create a better, more well-rounded chapter that makes Naruto's actions seem more realistic. This chapter is a little shorter than the others. I decided against replicating what I did with the last chapter. After the last scene there are no good stopping points for a while or none that make sense at least. As always please leave a review or comment on what you thought of the chapter.

I don't own Naruto.

Chapter XI

Groggily, Naruto stood up from his poor excuse of a bed. Twisting his upper body left and then right, a chorus of cracks greeted his ears. Naruto immediately felt relief flow through his back.

After relieving himself of his back discomfort, Naruto began to make his way out of his cell and down to the main floor. Naruto didn't bother being light on his feet. He let the creaking metal stairs sound off as he walked down them.

Once Naruto got to the first floor, he saw that nothing eventful was going on. The guards were just mulling around waiting for everyone to wake from their slumber. Taking a second look around, Naruto noticed that he was the first inmate to make the trip down the creaky staircase. It appeared as though everyone else was still trying to wake themselves up. Shrugging to himself, Naruto trekked across the main floor to the small kitchen and eventually to the refrigerator.

The old fridge door screeched open, the grinding metal hurt the ear drums of anyone who was present in the room. With a cringe, Naruto closed the fridge door after grabbing himself one of the bento boxes inside.

Naruto turned around and took a few steps to reach the small wooden table in the center of the kitchen. Using his free hand, Naruto pulled out one of the splintered chairs before sitting himself down upon it. Placing down his food, Naruto took a deep breath in and then out. If today was to be successful he would need a clear mind and a full stomach.

Without a second thought Naruto dug into his breakfast. The food wasn't of the best quality but he didn't need it to be. He just needed the nutrients.

With the food sitting in his stomach and a clean plate, Naruto sat up from the table. As Naruto reached his full height one of his fellow inmates walked into the room. Peering up to see who his company would be, Naruto recognized it to be Yoshi.

"How are you doing this morning young Naruto?" Yoshi's soft friendly voice made Naruto very comfortable. It held out it's arms and welcomed a response.

"I'm a little stressed thinking about our project but it's nothing I can't handle." Naruto responded confidently.

Naruto's confident response prompted a larger smile from Yoshi. "I'm glad you feel that way. With that confidence and enthusiasm, we should have this project done within days."

Naruto chuckled and nodded his head in agreement. After their short verbal exchange Naruto walked towards the middle of the room.

Sitting there, basking in the glow of the incandescent light was the Box. The scripted seals seem to be elevated off the side of the box. Creating eerie shadows that weaved around each side. Adding to its imposing visage.

Naruto reached out with his right hand and felt the elevated script. The box felt more like an ancient rock, carved by the gods themselves. Looking over to the small table beside the massive box was several scrolls, brushes, and ink. Perfect for note taking…. And sealing.

Naruto knew from the moment that he saw the materials provided that he would be able to create a set of seals using it. As Naruto continued to ponder what seals he could use an idea popped into his head.

If, and that is a big if, this mystical object didn't have an absurd amount of chakra, Naruto could seal it in a scroll. A simple sealing scroll and seal works when a ninja over-powered the objects chakra with their own. Since most ninja tools and inanimate objects don't have chakra networks it takes very little chakra to seal them. People, ninja's, and sentient objects are a different story.

Naruto may have to use his trump card, the nine-tailed fox to fuel this idea. This object couldn't have more chakra than the beast living in his gut? If he wanted to try this then how would he fit it in with his current plan? Kōsuke was set to return tonight and the toad was expecting a response. If Naruto was to seal the box within the scroll he would have to leave immediately afterwards.

Naruto would have to observe how the guards exit. He could explore the nooks and crannies but Naruto felt that Mui would be smart and only make one entrance/exit. Deciding on his course of action, Naruto grabbed a scroll, brush, and ink from the adjacent table.

Rolling the scroll out, Naruto focused on the seals lining the box. As expected, the seals lining the sentient object were old, very old. Naruto could barely decipher the seals. Despite the seals being old and basic, the lines and matrices had very strange curls and lines cutting through them. Like someone didn't want you to see what was underneath.

The elder seals along the sides of the box looked like extended matrices stemming from a central seal. Using his pointer finger, Naruto started tracing the lines back to the central, main seal. Before Naruto realized it, his hand had traced the matrices up to the top of the box. The excitement of discovery had taken over Naruto now. Taking a few steps back, Naruto ran towards the box and then jumped. Without the aid of chakra, he didn't jump ten feet in the air but the three foot jump he made was enough for Naruto to grasp the edge of the top of the Box.

With a firm grip on the edge of the box, Naruto pulled himself up and on top. Sitting nine feet in the air, Naruto gazed at the main seal of the box. Spread across the top of the box was a Four Symbols Seal. A seal that Naruto knew all to well, he had two Four Symbol Seals on his stomach after all.

Naruto immediately went to take notes on the familiar seal when he realized something. The scroll, brush, and ink were sitting on the ground beside the mystical box. Looking around, Naruto tried to find one of the other inmates that were supposed to be working on the project with him.

Not seeing anyone in his immediate vicinity, Naruto tried to call out to one of them. "Yoshi! Eiji! Akio! Is anyone around!?"

The only thing that responded to Naruto's shout were his own echoes. Weird. Hopping off the mystical box, Naruto searched the first floor for any sign of life. His search yielded no results. That left only one possible place, the second floor.

Making his way towards the staircase, Naruto ascended the metal staircase. He didn't bother concealing his steps. It wouldn't make a difference.

With one last step, Naruto had made it to the top floor. Slowly, Naruto walked in front of the first cell located on the floor. The cell was empty. Focusing on the bed, it appeared as though someone didn't even spend the night inside the cell.

Shaking his head, Naruto moved on the next cell in line. It looked exactly like the previous cell. Naruto rubbed his eyes thinking he was locked in a dream. He bit his lip thinking maybe he was locked inside a visual jutsu. Leaning against the bars of the jail cell, Naruto searched his brain for an answer to this strange development. Remembering breakfast this morning, it was strange not seeing either Akio or Eiji. He only saw Yoshi and that was only for a brief moment.

Yoshi. He was the only person Naruto saw this morning, then he seemed to disappear as well. Pushing himself off the metal bars of the cell, he jogged to the next cell in line. Naruto hoped the older man was present inside the cell. That hope quickly fled Naruto's system though as the only thing present inside the room were a messy bed and the standard essentials in every cell.

Where had all the other inmates disappeared too? Naruto had brushed off Nishiki's disappearance yesterday but now it was too big to ignore. Trying to plan his next action accordingly, Naruto sat down on the floor for a second. He even considered moving into Shikamaru's thinking pose. Maybe if he crossed his legs and connected his fingers a plan would have an easier time forming in his brain.

After what seemed like an hour, Naruto rose from the ground with what he believed to be the best course of action. Naruto descended the stairs to the first floor where he wound enact the first part of his plan.

Grabbing the sealing scroll, Naruto unfurled it even more than he had earlier. He was going to destroy the box. Not the box itself, Naruto would seal the box inside the scroll's own pocket dimension and then destroy the scroll. It was the same as locking a door and throwing away the key. With the access to the pocket dimension destroyed nobody will be able to find the sentient object, thus it's destroyed.

The seal that Naruto would make though was going to be a little more sophisticated than the standard sealing scroll seal. Since chakra was flowing in the box Naruto would have to use an Enclosing Technique, a sealing style used mainly for objects that contain or are constructs of chakra. Mixed within the matrices of the Enclosing Technique would be a Trap Seal. A Trap Seal is mainly used to trap opponents on the battlefield and then transport them to an alternate pocket dimension. There are a few ways to escape but with the seal connected to Naruto the only plausible way would to use a blood seal using Naruto's blood. The scroll will be destroyed by then.

Getting to work, Naruto started drawing the lines for the Trap Seal. Since Trap Seal's were meant for the battle field there were many more kanji and lines involved, along with that it was also supposed to cover a larger area. Drawing the small lines and curls was rather stressful as Naruto only had so many scrolls to use.

"Damn it!" Naruto's shout of frustration was only heard by himself as he tossed the second scroll to the corner of the room. He was only a few kanji away from completing the seal when he accidently connected a kanji to one of the lines of the Enclosing Technique.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto grabbed the last scroll and went to work. Drawing each individual line, curve and twist with a little more grandeur than the last.

Naruto exhaled deeply. The seal was finished. Theoretically, the seal should work perfectly. With his experience though, Naruto knew to never trust a first-time seal. Even with his expertise, Naruto knew this was risky and could easily backfire. Every line might look correct to Naruto but he was used to having a second set of eyes look over his seals before he tested them. Those eyes were usually Jiraiya's and his eyes always picked up on something Naruto missed.

Pushing his anxiety aside, Naruto knew nobody would be able to review the seal and that he would have to heavily analyze it himself.

Rolling up the scroll, Naruto slid it up his sleeve. He tucked it underneath the string still holding the kunai knife from his raid of the guard lunchroom several days ago.

Part of his plan was now complete. Naruto now had a way to destroy the box, sort of. He was putting all of his eggs in one basket. If worse came to worse though, Naruto would just carve a Trap Seal into the ground using the Finger Carving Seal Method. The seal would be left on the ground and could be tampered with but it would be better than nothing.

Naruto's thought process was broken by a soft rumbling coming from his stomach. Between planning for the boxes destruction and creating the sealing scroll, Naruto had neglected his appetite and stomach.

Making the short trip to the next room, Naruto reached into the creaky, rusted refrigerator. Repeating his steps from this morning, Naruto opened the door, removed a box, and made the food disappear in no time at all.

Throwing the empty bento box into the trash, it was time to complete the second part of the plan for today, find an escape route. Leaving the kitchen, Naruto looked for all the possible exits that existed in the building. Besides the main exit, Naruto barely saw any other way out. There were no windows and he couldn't see any other doors.

Refusing to accept that there was only one way out, Naruto began perusing the walls, looking for any weak spots or any signs of deuteriation. Jiraiya may have to do more work than Naruto thought. The man liked being flashy though.

Naruto felt the hard-concrete walls of the building. Putting his ear flush with the wall, Naruto knocked against the wall. The result was just sore knuckles on his left hand. He needed to hear an echo within the wall. The echo would signify a soft spot, an easy entry point for Jiraiya.

Looking back, Naruto checked to make sure the guards weren't paying attention. Besides waking him up, the guards just hung out by the door. They just talked and ignored what was happening behind them. They just assumed it was another boring assignment.

Naruto slowly made his way from the walls of the kitchen to the wall underneath the second floor holding cells. It was looking grim. He couldn't find a weak point in any of the first-floor walls. Taking a deep breath, Naruto knocked on the wall right below his cell. That's when he heard it. He heard an echo! Naruto had found his way out.

A large grin stretched upon his face. His plan was looking better by the minute. To double check he tried to walk farther towards the corner, "Ow!" Naruto silently screamed to himself. Glaring down at the ground there was an iron rod protruding from the earth. Naruto may have a high pain tolerance from his training and fighting but stubbing your toe still hurt.

Frustratingly, Naruto stomped down on the metal rod as if he could hurt the object. Only, the object gave way and Naruto stomped it right into the ground. Astonishingly, as the rod went into the ground Naruto barely heard the sound of gears turning and metal creaking. Trying to find the source of the noise, Naruto saw the concrete wall become indented. There was something within the wall of the building.

Naruto glanced back at the guards once again. The group was none the wiser to anything Naruto was doing at the moment. Peaking back at the opening in the concrete wall, Naruto tried to focus and see what was located in the dark abyss.

Throwing caution into the wind, Naruto stepped forward and crept into the other room. The other room was massive. It was the size of four jails cells put together. For such a large room it was filled with negative space. The only objects located in the room were eight separate beds in a circular formation. Each bed faced the middle where a single large over-head light brightened the room.

When Naruto finished looking at his surroundings that's when he noticed something scary. Lying in each bed were the inmates that were supposed to help him deconstruct the seal on the box. Naruto approached the bed closest to him. Naruto barely recognized the man as Nishiki. His skin had turned lighter and shriveled up. He looked like he aged 50 years since Naruto last saw him. As Naruto scanned the table, he noticed seals wrapped around his wrists and feet.

Analyzing the seal carefully, Naruto saw that it was a high strength Chakra Siphoning Seal. The seal is similar to a Chakra Blocking Seal except instead of blocking chakra output it directs the chakra into something else. It slowly drains the user of their chakra.

For Nishiki to be in this condition he would have to have been connected to the seal for a while. Considering the fact that Nishiki had gone missing when Naruto first arrived that meant he could have possibly been connected to the seals for at least two days. Looking up from Nishiki's shriveled carcass, Naruto saw more bodies on the other beds.

Walking around to the other beds, Naruto saw all the other inmates that were supposed to be included in the project. Akio, Eiji, and Yoshi were laying motionless on the beds. Akio and Eiji both looked pale and half dead. Ignoring those two, Naruto made his way straight for Yoshi. Naruto had just seen Yoshi this morning so he couldn't have been attached to the bed for long.

Naruto softly shook Yoshi's arm. It elicited no response from the older man. He still appeared to be in good health though. Besides his ragged breathing, you wouldn't be able to tell that he was getting his chakra siphoned.

Naruto soon realized he had spent enough time inside this room. He had taken a huge risk exploring the hidden space, it would be better if he let them believe that it was still hidden.

Quickly, Naruto crossed the room towards the opening in the wall. "-of course, we have been keeping watch sir! The blond prisoner you left us has been hard at work."

"Oh really?" The sarcastic and inquisitive tone gave away Mui immediately. "Then where is that hard working dedicated blond you are going on and on about?"

Naruto's blood ran cold. He had to get out of the hidden room before anyone noticed. As sneakily as possible, Naruto slid in between the opening in the wall. As Naruto slid through the opening he pulled on the edge of the concrete wall, pulling the wall back into place. If a person were to look at the wall it would appear to be a normal concrete wall.

Peering over to where Mui and the guards were standing it seemed as though their conversation was almost finished. Moving with haste, Naruto dashed for the stairs to the second floor. As he reached the foot of the stairway, he heard his name get called.

"Namikaze! Front and center this instant!" Mui's harsh tone left no room for argument. Reluctantly, Naruto walked until he was five feet away from Mui. Close enough to keep Mui happy but far enough away for Naruto to react to any action they take against him.

With Naruto planted in front of him Mui twisted his body to his right to speak with the guards, "Okay, seize him."

-Until Next Time-

Tell me what you think. Is there anything about this chapter that you would change if you had the chance? Message me or drop a comment below. As always thank you for reading.


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